To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' Abu Dhabi event, 30
November 2019.
Estimate:
$5,500,000 - $7,500,000
- Driven to victory at the San Marino, Austrian, and French Grand
Prix by Michael Schumacher
- Helped to secure Schumacher's fifth World Championship at the
2002 French Grand Prix
- Pole-sitting car at Spanish Grand Prix, driven by
Schumacher
- Ferrari Classiche Certified and race prepared for Ferrari Corse
Clienti events
- To be delivered to the new owner at Fiorano following an engine
and transmission rebuild at the consignor's cost
- One of the most successful Formula One designs of all time,
taking 15 wins, 11 pole positions, and 15 fastest laps from 19
races
FERRARI'S RETURN TO F1 DOMINANCE
As Formula One's most revered team, it was ironic that by the
mid-1990s Scuderia Ferrari had assumed the role of perennial
underachievers. Without a World Drivers' Championship since 1979,
and with their 1983 Constructors' title but a distant memory, the
tifosi�and the notoriously demanding Italian press�were getting
restless.
For 1996, double World Champion Michael Schumacher was lured away
from the Benetton team with which he had won back-to-back titles in
1994 and 1995, his passage somewhat eased by a two-year $60 million
contract�not to mention the recent arrival at Ferrari of highly
rated team principal Jean Todt and a seemingly limitless budget
courtesy of long-time team sponsor Philip Morris. Unsurprisingly,
the impact of the Kerpen wunderkind was immediate: a 3rd place in
his second race with the team, a race win in his seventh, and a
promising 3rd place in the 1996 Drivers' World Championship.
With former Benetton luminaries Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn joining
Ferrari in 1997�as chief designer and technical director,
respectively�the 'Dream Team' was falling into place. Although the
1997 and 1999 seasons would prove frustrating�through championship
disqualification and injury�the combination of the German maestro,
Marlboro money, technical superiority, and, at last, a squad with a
sense of purpose and direction meant that fortunes at Maranello
were inexorably on the up.
In 2000 Ferrari enjoyed its finest season in a generation, with
Schumacher taking his long-awaited first Drivers' crown at the
Scuderia, the team also securing the Constructors' title. This was
repeated in 2001, albeit in even more convincing fashion, with
Schumacher scoring almost double the points of championship
runner-up David Coulthard. Somewhat ominously for the opposition,
it appeared that the Schumacher-Todt-Byrne-Brawn tour de force had
truly come of age.
At the start of the 2002 season, Ferrari chose to persist with an
updated version of the all-conquering F2001 model from the year
before, only introducing the new F2002 from the third round of the
championship in Brazil onwards. Although outwardly similar to the
F2001, the F2002 was in fact a very different animal underneath: a
new lightweight chassis, new '051'specification 3.0-litre V-10
engine, and revolutionary fused titanium gearbox were combined with
optimised aerodynamics, cooling, and weight distribution.
CHASSIS NO. 219
This particular chassis, 219, first turned a wheel in anger at the
official Formula One test held at the Circuit de
Barcelona-Catalunya in March. Driven by Rubens Barrichello, the car
covered some 265 laps over the four days, concentrating primarily
on fine-tuning race setups and evaluating a variety of new
Bridgestone tyre compounds. After a brief shakedown at Fiorano by
test driver Luca Badoer, chassis 219 was sent to Imola for the San
Marino Grand Prix in mid-April. Having qualified in 2nd place with
Barrichello at the wheel�Schumacher having taken pole in chassis
220�the Scuderia effected a swap for the race, in which Schumacher
took chassis 219 to an untroubled 18-second victory over his
popular Brazilian teammate, with the Williams-BMW of his brother
Ralf a further two seconds behind in 3rd place.
At the end of the month, focus shifted to the Spanish Grand Prix at
Barcelona, where Schumacher was due to drive 219. In qualifying,
Michael finished a comfortable three-tenths quicker than
Barrichello to secure pole, although perhaps more telling was the
fact that he was almost a second a lap quicker than the first
non-Ferrari�his brother's Williams�in 3rd place. After using the
spare car for the race, Schumacher still managed to cross the line
35 seconds ahead of Montoya's 2nd-placed Williams and gave the rest
of the paddock serious cause for concern. After all, if that was
the performance of the unfamiliar spare car, what would the likely
margin of victory have been in his preferred 219?
The Austrian Grand Prix at the beginning of May once again saw
Schumacher nominated to drive 219. Barrichello qualified on pole
ahead of Ralf Schumacher; Michael qualified 3rd, and he proceeded
to pull away from rest of the field from the start. Having
dominated the race throughout, the controversial Ferrari policy of
favouring their number one driver was implemented on the final lap,
with Barrichello instructed to allow Michael past. With this,
Schumacher had taken another significant step towards his
championship hat trick with Ferrari�his fifth in total�whilst the
F2002 continued its remarkable run of success: four races, four
wins.
At Monaco, Schumacher used chassis 221 to qualify 3rd behind pole
sitter Montoya and Coulthard's McLaren, although he reverted to
using 219 for the race. A predictably tough race ensued�as is
customary from anywhere other than pole position in the
principality�and Coulthard drove an inspired race for McLaren to
take the win, just over one second in front of Michael.
The next race outing for 219 would be the French Grand Prix at
Magny-Cours, where victory would secure Schumacher his fifth world
title and a place amongst the sport's greats. After a fraught
race�which included a drive-through penalty and a controversial
move on Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren in the latter stages�Michael
crossed the line to take the title with six rounds of the
championship still remaining.
Thereafter, 219's final two race outings would be with Barrichello
at the wheel, Schumacher opting to race chassis 221 and 223 for the
remainder of the season. At the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, at
the end of July, Barrichello took a hard-fought 4th place, whilst
Schumacher secured yet another victory�his first in a Ferrari in
front of his adoring home fans. Meanwhile, at Spa, Barrichello
reaffirmed the F2002's undoubted position as the class of the field
with another 2nd place behind Schumacher, the 3rd-placed Williams
of Montoya being some sixteen seconds further back at the flag.
By the end of the 2002 season, the F2002 had been responsible for,
at that point, the most dominant World Championship performance
ever seen. Schumacher had taken 11 wins (of which all but one were
in the F2002, and three in chassis 219), and his margin of victory
of 67 points over Barrichello was a record under the old
points-scoring system, which would be replaced for 2003. Perhaps
most tellingly of all, Ferrari's Constructors' Championship haul of
221 points for the year precisely equalled the combined tally of
all ten remaining teams.
After its retirement from competition, chassis 219 was sold by the
Scuderia to a Japanese collector, who also purchased chassis 220.
Chassis 219 was purchased in 2012 with proceeds going to charity
and has been residing in the collection of the consignor ever
since.
Importantly, following the auction, both the engine and
transmission of the F2002 will be compl...for more information
please contact the seller.
