Michael Schumacher's Former Benetton F1 Car Will Be Auctioned Early Next Year

Benetton B191-08. (Doc. RM Sotheby's)

JAKARTA - A Benetton F1 car number B191-08 entered the RM Sothebys auction market. Interestingly, the car was once used by the living legend Michael Schumacher when he was at the beginning of his career in this land jet event.

Launching from the RM Sotheby's page, Monday, December 30, B191-08 was included in the 1992 competition season F1 event. The car is a development version of B191 which was released in the previous season.

At that time, Benetton lowered B191-08 with a number of improvements consisting of suspensions and bodywork and the presence of the latest Pirelli tires replacing Goodyear in the previous year.

Beyond the updates provided, Benetton still maintains a 600 dk-powered Ford HBA5 3.5 liter V8 engine. The machine has been a mainstay for this Enstone-based team, England for several years.

The car was included in the first three races of the 1992 season consisting of South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil, before being replaced by a newer and more competitive B192 chassis.

Benetton coded B191-08 was used by Michael Schumacher in the race that took place in Kyalami, South Africa. The German racer managed to get the results of qualifying in sixth place with his best time record 1:17,635 in Q2.

The racer who is familiarly called 'Schumi' managed to lead one second from his more experienced team-mate at that time, Martin Brundle, who was in the eighth fastest position.

In his own race, Schumacher managed to finish the 72 lap race by successfully finishing fourth behind the iconic Brazilian racer, Ayrton Senna, who had to settle for finishing in third.

For the race in Mexico, it was Martin Brundle's turn to drive the B191-08 and surprisingly managed to get the qualification results in fourth place or behind Schumi and in front of the Mclaren-Honda duo, Ayrton Senna and runway Berger.

During the race, Brundle managed to run the race smoothly and remained in the top five. However, he had to end it early because his car had engine problems on lap 47. Meanwhile, Schumi managed to reach third and first podium for him in F1.

Continuing in Brazil, Brundle is still racing using this chassis and has succeeded in delivering the qualification in seventh position.

Unfortunately, the British racer again ended his race early after being involved in an incident with the Ferrari racer at that time, Jean Alesi on the 30th lap.

After that, chassis B191-08 was retired and replaced by B192. This car was once purchased by Mortlock around the early 2000s. Then, a US-based private collector bought it in late 2000.

Then in April 2001, the car was rerun at the Donington Park circuit, England under the supervision of F1 expert Fred Goddard and was further taken down for several races in classic cars.

Long story short in June 2005, B191-08 entered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, USA. This one car was exhibited at various events, including the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Canada in 2017.

The car entered the RM Sotheby's auction market accompanied by a photocopy of Benetton's authenticity certificate confirming the use of Schumacher and a copy of the 1992 F1 Autocourse book that outlined the use of this car in the first three races of the 1992 season accompanied by spare parts options.

Benetton B191-08 will be auctioned in Miami, USA on 27-28 February with an estimated price of 600,000 US dollars to 800,000 US dollars (Rp9.7 billion to Rp12.9 billion).

With the fact that this car was once piloted by a seven-time world champion legend in its youth, it has the potential to have a higher selling price than expected.