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The Ferrari Michael Schumacher used to break Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of world titles has broken another. One of the German’s F2003-GA Formula 1 cars has been sold for $14.69 CHF (AUD$22.2 million) at Sotheby’s Auctions in Geneva, Switzerland.
The sale of F2003-GA chassis 229 makes it the most ever paid for a modern-era Formula 1 car, breaking the previous figure of $USD7.5 (AUD$11.8 million), which was also for one of the seven-time world champion’s Ferraris from 2001.
The F2003-GA was the model Schumacher used to claim his sixth world driver’s championship, breaking Fangio’s long-standing record of five. With team-mate Rubens Barichello, the Scuderia also wrapped up the 2003 Constructors championship, its fifth in succession.
With Ross Brawn leading a formidable technical team, which included Rory Byrne, Aldo Costa and James Allison – now CTO at Mercedes-AMG F1 Team – the F2003 was powered by a 2997cc V10 and seven-speed gearbox, which were tended to as part of an overhaul by the Ferrari Formula 1 Clienti department and Ferrari Classiche ‘Red Book’ certification.
Presented in full working order, Chassis 229 is one of four F2003-GAs produced, and is the most successful of those.
The 2003 title was closely fought, with reigning champion Schumacher – who’d taken the title for the previous three seasons – starting the season in the F2002B and not winning a race until the fourth round at San Marino.
The F2003-GA first raced at the following Spanish Grand Prix, which it duly won, and took the next two races for a hat-trick of wins. The dominance didn’t continue, but Schumacher and Barichello added two more that season, the German claiming his record-breaking sixth title by two points at the final round in Japan.
While the sale of chassis 229 makes the F2003-GA the most expensive ‘modern-era’ F1 car sold, it’s still well short of the record set by the sale of Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R, which sold for £19,601,500 (AUS $34,537,843) at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
