Throughout the history of sport, periodic synergies between a team and one particularly gifted individual has galvanized success and changed the course of that given sport. Michael Jordan and the dominance of the Chicago Bulls in the early 1990s, Tom Brady and the reign of the New England Patriots from 2001-2018, Wayne Gretzky and the incredible success of the Edmonton Oilers in the late 1980s. Often following periods of relative mediocrity or outright drought, an organization can turn itself around in a way previously unforeseen through the profound impact of a handful of key individuals, etching their names into the history books alongside a singular noun: dynasty. 

Even within Formula 1, this trend remains true. Jim Clark and Lotus, Jackie Stewart and Tyrrell, and Ayrton Senna and McLaren all being notable cases in point. Yet in terms of its duration and dominance in Formula 1, one particular collaboration stands apart from the rest: Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. 

A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES – THE RESURGENCE OF FERRARI IN THE SCHUMACHER-TODT ERA

By the early 1990s, Scuderia Ferrari had acquired an unwanted reputation as extravagantly-funded underachievers; the team without a Constructors’ World Championship since 1983, and a Drivers’ title since 1979. In response, FIAT patriarch Gianni Agnelli recruited former Ferrari Team Principal Luca di Montezemolo as Company President in 1991; the urbane and capable Piedmontese making it his personal responsibility to return the Scuderia to their winning ways.

There was one overriding question for both those outside and within the factory gates in Maranello: What would it take to return the team to the top step of the podium?

Despite di Montezemolo’s best efforts, the team remained winless throughout 1991, and the next two seasons. Indeed, by the time Gerhard Berger won the 1994 German Grand Prix, Ferrari had endured the longest victory drought in its history; a period encompassing some 59 Grands Prix, and almost four years. However, by 1993, highly-rated former Peugeot Talbot Sport Director Jean Todt had arrived at Maranello as Ferrari’s General Manager; his recruitment, at di Montezemolo’s behest, one which would have profound implications for the team over the next decade or more. 
Aided by a customarily generous budget from lead sponsor Philip Morris, Todt set about assembling the automotive equivalent to the 1992 US Men’s Olympic Basketball Team; Formula 1’s own Dream Team. Incumbent double World Champion Michael Schumacher was lured from Benetton for the 1996 season, while the Anglo-Italian team’s key technical operators–Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn–followed their erstwhile colleague to Ferrari in 1997, in the roles of Chief Designer and Technical Director respectively.

If, unsurprisingly, Championship success was not immediate, then certainly race wins became a realistic prospect; Schumacher’s three victories in 1996 represented the first time Ferrari had scored multiple wins in a season since 1990. Technical knowledge and team confidence grew exponentially, with a precious World Constructors’ crown following in 1999. Yet it was the period from 2000 to 2004 which came to define the “Schumacher-Todt” era. Not only did the German win an unprecedented five consecutive World Drivers’ titles, but the team achieved a similar record in the Constructors’ Championship. Remarkably, Ferrari won more than two-thirds of the 85 Grands Prix held during this time; Schumacher alone accounting for more than half.

However, the 2005 season–the last to feature 3.0-liter V-10 engines–was a relative disappointment; a sole race victory by the recalcitrant F2005 indicative of its inability to extract maximum performance from its Bridgestone tires. Consequently, from mid-2005 onwards, Ferrari’s focus shifted towards developing a car compliant with the incoming 2.4-litre V8 engine regulations.

2006 - SCHUMACHER’S SCUDERIA SWANSONG

Ferrari’s new-for-2006, Aldo Costa-designed 248 borrowed certain elements from the F2005, retaining the same external dimensions, wheelbase, and track. However, the car was optimized within the context of the new regulations, with significant aerodynamic improvements to the side pods, deflectors, engine cover, diffuser, and floor. The new 90-degree Type-056 engine was the first V8 unit to power a Ferrari Grand Prix car since the Championship-winning 158 of 1964. Initially boasting around 730 horsepower–but as much as 785 by the season’s end–it was attached to a seven-speed gearbox.

This leads us to the car offered here, one that is amongst the most significant of all Formula 1 cars in existence. The fifth of eight chassis constructed, chassis 254 made its track debut on 4 April 2006 at Autodromo Vallelunga in the hands of former Formula 3000 Champion, Grand Prix, and Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer. Further pre-season tests were conducted by Schumacher and teammate Felipe Massa, with some 3,900 kilometres being accumulated prior to the car’s race debut in the fourth round of that year’s World Championship, at Imola.

The weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix proved to be an auspicious one. A superb effort by Schumacher saw him top the qualifying times in 254’s maiden qualifying session; this performance, significantly, taking him past the late Ayrton Senna’s longstanding record of 65 Grand Prix pole positions. In the race, although faced with unexpectedly high tire degradation, the German held off Fernando Alonso’s Renault to take the Scuderia’s first win of the season.

Two weeks later, the Formula One circus reconvened at the Nürburgring for the European Grand Prix. Having qualified second to Alonso, Ferrari employed an inspired strategy to leapfrog the Spaniard at the pitstops, with Schumacher eventually securing a second consecutive race victory for 254. Significantly, the race would mark the last of Schumacher’s five European Grand Prix victories, and also saw a popular maiden podium finish–after 56 attempts–for teammate Massa. 

Following a sequence of three second-placed finishes in the Spanish, British, and Canadian Grands Prix, 254 next appeared at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. A near-perfect weekend for the Scuderia saw Schumacher qualify on pole, with Massa second; the pair replicating this result in the race. Schumacher also took fastest lap, with Alonso finishing only fifth; the latter’s result moving the German to within 19 points of the lead for the Drivers’ Championship. 

Ferrari’s strong mid-season form continued at the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours in mid-July. A third pole position for Schumacher at the wheel of 254 would prove an unwittingly poignant one; this representing the 68th and final pole of his career. Another Schumacher masterclass in the race saw him lead all but seven laps en route to victory, although Alonso’s passing of Massa on lap 54 restricted Michael’s net gain in the World Championship standings to just two points.

The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in late July saw pole position taken by McLaren’s Kimi Räikkönen. Once again at the wheel of chassis 254, Schumacher qualified second ahead of Massa, with Alonso only seventh. In the race, Räikkönen led initially, although a bungled pitstop on lap 10 handed the lead to Schumacher. Thereafter, it was another dominant Ferrari performance, with the German finishing ahead of Massa to record the team’s second 1-2 finish of the year; this, significantly, his final Grand Prix win on home soil.

Appropriately, 254’s final competitive outing was again with Schumacher at the Hungaroring in early August, although the weekend proved to be an uncharacteristically difficult one for the Scuderia. Having qualified only twelfth, Schumacher endured a turbulent race, culminating in retirement with collision damage just three laps from the finish. However, Michael was still classified in eighth place–thereby gaining a solitary Championship point–whereas Alonso retired prior to the classification cut-off point. As a result, the gap between the pair in the World Championship narrowed to just ten points.

The remainder of chassis 254’s season centred around promotional work–with Badoer and Massa driving the car in Istanbul and Shanghai respectively. Meanwhile, the Championship distilled into a battle royal between the season’s two leading protagonists; both leaving the Chinese Grand Prix–with just two rounds remaining–level on points in the Drivers’ standings, and with Renault ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship by a single point. Nevertheless, Alonso finished the year strongly, with the Spaniard eventually taking the title by 13 points from Schumacher, while Renault secured the Constructors’ crown by a mere five points from Ferrari.

SCHUMACHER’S LAST DRIVE AND RÄIKKÖNON’S FIRST

Having announced his retirement from the sport at the Italian Grand Prix, Schumacher returned to 254’s cockpit at Ferrari’s traditional end-of-season Finali Mondiali celebrations at Monza, on 29 October. After 11 years at the Scuderia, five Drivers’ World Championships, six Constructors’ titles, and an incredible 72 Grand Prix wins, the event would mark his final appearance as a Ferrari works driver; a suitably grandiose stage on which to sign off this most accomplished of Formula One careers.

Just as one illustrious chapter ended at Ferrari, so too another one started. Kimi Räikkönen had taken over Schumacher’s seat for the 2007 World Championship season and was promptly entrusted with chassis 254 for four days of testing at Vallelunga in late January as part of his pre-season preparations. Whilst not definitively known, it is believed that 254 was the first Ferrari Formula One car ever to have been driven by Räikkönen, and one which ultimately contributed to both his 2007 World Drivers’ crown, and Ferrari’s 2007 and 2008 Constructors’ titles. After the Vallelunga test, the car was used in just one further test session at Valencia–in which it was driven by Badoer and Massa–before being placed into storage at Maranello.

In December 2007, 254 was acquired directly from Ferrari by the present owner, in whose esteemed collection it has remained ever since. During this time, the car gained the coveted Ferrari Classiche certification and performed several private test sessions at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track. Furthermore, in 2017, it was also exhibited at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California as part of the “Seeing Red: 70 years of Ferrari” exhibition. However, while the car is accompanied by a spares package including a spare set of wheels and an external starter, it should be noted that it has been inactive for more than a decade and so will require recommissioning before returning to full operational condition. Please contact an RM Sotheby’s Specialist for further details.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHASSIS NUMBER 254

Throughout Ferrari’s history as a racing team there have been two undeniable ‘golden eras’ where the Scuderia experienced an exceptional level of racing success that became a catalyst for catapulting them to new levels as a manufacturer. The first period occurred from 1958-1965 when, led by the 250 Testa Rossa and 250 GTO models, Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans an incredible seven times in eight years. The racing cars from this era were both unmatched in their performance on the track and stunningly beautiful aesthetically. Those features, combined with very low production numbers of approximately 30 cars produced in each model range, propelled them to become the most valuable collector objects of their generation.

Within the modern era, from approximately the 1980s until today, Formula One has dramatically increased in popularity on a global level. The exploits of Formula One titans such as Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Lewis Hamilton are widely etched into the minds of the majority of modern motorsports enthusiasts.

In total there are only approximately 30 individual Ferrari F1 chassis which have at least one victory by Michael Schumacher. That population is reduced by approximately half when one isolates only chassis which have multiple Schumacher victories and is reduced to only a tiny handful of chassis when considering cars that have five victories or more, with the majority of those now locked up in very secure collections where they are likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

Developed essentially without object to cost for maximum conquering performance, Formula One cars represent the peak of automotive engineering and design skill - and Ferrari has often been at the summit of this peak, most prominently from 1997-2006 when the combination of Maranello and Schumacher resulted in pure and utter dominance. This particular car stands at the foremost of this relationship, as amongst the winningest car of any Schumacher-piloted Ferrari, making it surely one of the most sought-after Formula 1 cars of the modern era.

Since its sale by Maranello this hugely significant Ferrari has remained in single ownership within one of the world's greatest collections, possessed by one of the most sophisticated enthusiasts, who has prized it for its power and, yes, its significance within the market as, simply, the ne plus ultra of modern competition prowess. In power, in design, in provenance, it is a breathtaking full-course meal of desirability, now set before the world's most astute connoisseurs.