Schumacher Ferrari racer sells for a record $7,504,000 at an art auction

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Schumacher Ferrari racer sells for a record $7,504,000 at art auction
The scene at Sotheby's as ex-Schumahcer Ferrari sold for record price | RM Sotheby's photo

In what RM Sotheby’s says is a record auction price paid for a modern-era Formula One racing car, the Ferrari F2001 driven to victory by Michael Schumacher at Monaco sold Thursday at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York for $7,504,000.

A portion of that amount will be donated by the car’s former owner to Michael Schumacher’s Keep Fighting Foundation, founded by the Schumacher family after the retired racer’s skiing accident in 2010. The foundation was founded “as a force for good in the world in achieving cultural and social benefits,” RM Sotheby’s said in its post-sale news release.

Significant as well was the fact that the car offered not at an RM Sotheby’s collector car sale but at Sotheby’s art auction. It was the first time a car had been offered at a Sotheby’s art sale.

RM Sotheby’s news release noted that the previous record for a modern F1 car selling at auction was the $3,198,500 paid for another Schumahcer-driven Ferrari, an F2004, at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Maranello, Italy, in 2005.

The car, chassis 211, had a pre-sale estimated value of $4 million to $5.5 million. The final price reported includes the buyer’s fee. The auction was held as part of an annual autumn week of art auctions in New York City, where several art auctions were being held. Wednesday, at Christie’s sale, Leonardo da Vinci’s paining Salvator Mundi sold for a record $450.3 million.

Sotheby’s sale Thursday totaled $310.2 million with 96 percent of lots sold, the auction house reported.

RM Sotheby’s will stage its “Icons” sale of collector cars December 6 at Sotheby’s New York City headquarters. That sale will be part of a special “A Life of Luxury” launch for Sotheby’s new Luxury Division.

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