The cars represent the best of two very different eras and drivers
It’s rare for genuine race-used Formula 1 cars to appear at auction.
Of course the already expensive machines get even more so, with pedigree and provenance raising the value if they have been steered by notable drivers, or have race-winning history.
These two machines then, represent the collectible zenith of two very different eras of F1.
The first car arriving at auction is Niki Lauda’s 1975 Ferrari Formula 1 car: a Ferrari 312T that the late-great steered to the first of his three World Driver’s Championships.
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It will be coming to auction at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach sale in August and is estimated to fetch up to an eye-watering AU$11.5 million dollars.
With the stratospheric pricetag, you get equally significant history: with Lauda steering Chassis 022 to the top of the podium at the 1975 French GP, second place at the Dutch GP, and third at the German GP.
The car has changed hands only a couple of times since its racing days, first acquired by a French Collector in the 1980s, then to the Netherlands in the early 2000s. Since 2008, it’s been in the hands of an American collector, who had the car fully restored with rebuilt mechanicals. It finished third in class at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and would be a respectable cornerstone of any motorsport collection.
But perhaps 70s Formula 1 isn’t your thing.
Well you’ll have another chance at a Championship-winning Ferrari Formula 1 car later in the year at RM Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi auction in November; which will see Michael Schumacher’s 2002 Championship-winning Ferrari F2002 cross the block.
Estimated to fetch up to AU$10.7 million, the F2002 is one of the most dominant cars of the time – with Chassis 219 winning three Grands Prix in 2002; at the Italian GP, the Austrian GP and at the French GP.
This is the car that clinched Schumacher’s fifth World Championship, with six races in the season to spare – it remains the shortest time in which a World Driver’s Title has been won.
Since the car was retired in 2003, the car has found homes in various significant private collections across multiple continents – and is considered one of the most dominant cars of the era.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the F2002 will be donated to the Keep Fighting Foundation, founded by Michael Schumacher’s family.
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