Schumacher's last Ferrari F1 car to be auctioned

Michael Schumacher remains one of the most successful drivers in Formula One, and most of his success came during his dominant years at Ferrari in the early 2000s. The car that marked the end of that era will be auctioned by RM Sotheby's on November 14.

The 2006 Ferrari 248 F1 was the last Ferrari F1 car driven by Schumacher, who temporarily retired after the 2006 season. Schumacher did not win a record-tying seven championships that season, but he did win his last five races and his last three pole positions. His last pole position and victory came in a car with chassis number 254, which was sold at auction.

From this season, F1 switched from the 3.0-liter V10 engine to the 2.4-liter V8 engine, and Ferrari lost the drivers' and constructors' championships to Renault, led by Fernando Alonso, in a disappointing 2005 Ferrari was looking forward to a fresh start after the disappointing 2005 season, when it lost the drivers' and constructors' championships to Fernando Alonso and Renault. It was Ferrari's first championship loss since 2000, and the Scuderia's (and Schumacher's) domination of F1 was broken.

The 248 F1 car, the first Ferrari F1 car with a V8 engine since the 158 in 1964, was far more competitive than the 2005 car, although it failed to live up to expectations as Alonso and Renault repeated their championship-winning form. Schumacher won the San Marino, European, American, French, and German GPs. However, the latter was to be his last F1 victory in his home country.

The 248 F1, initially powered up to 730 hp and then to 758 hp by the end of the season, was also the driving force behind Schumacher's last pole position at the German GP. Chassis 254 was also the car in which Schumacher surpassed Ayrton Senna's pole position record (both drivers were later overtaken by Lewis Hamilton), finishing second three times and setting the fastest lap four times.

Schumacher returned to Formula One in 2010 with Mercedes-Benz AMG, but failed to add to his win tally in his three seasons with the team; he qualified on pole position for the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix, but was demoted five grids after contact with Bruno Senna in the previous race Due to a penalty, he was unable to start the race. The 248 F1 thus symbolized the end of Schumacher's F1 glory days and the beginning of the end for Ferrari.

The Ferrari 248 chassis 254 also boasts a connection to another F1 star: the Ferrari first driven by Kimi Raikkonen in preseason testing in January 2007. Raikkonen won the drivers' championship that season, and Ferrari took the constructors' championship after McLaren was excluded in the “Spygate” scandal. This was Ferrari's last F1 championship.

RM Sotheby's has not released a pre-auction estimate for the car, but for reference, a former Schumacher Ferrari F1 car from the 2003 season sold for $14.8 million at auction in 2022.