Schumacher's 2001 F1 car just sold for $7,504,000

Records were broken this week. A Leonardo da Vinci painting sold for more than $450 million, breaking the world record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction as it did so. But it’s not the only bit of ‘art’ to have broken a record this week. And the other one is much more interesting.

Sotheby’s used its Contemporary Art Evening sale in New York to auction off this Ferrari F2001, driven in period by none other than seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher.

It fetched a little over $7.5million – small change compared to the da Vinci, but nonetheless a record for an F1 car sold at auction and some way above the initial $4.5 - $5million estimate. Don’t forget, this is the very car (chassis 211) that secured Ferrari and MSC the 2001 Constructor’s and Driver’s Championships and won the Monaco GP. Onboard sat a 3.0-litre Ferrari Tipo V10 engine, producing anywhere between 800bhp and 900bhp (depending on tune), running a seven-speed semi-auto ‘box. “Its scream at peak revs of 18,500rpm will never be forgotten by any who heard it,” Sotheby’s said

The previous owner will donate some of the proceeds to Michael Schumacher’s Keep Fighting Foundation, which “seeks to channel the positive energy received by Michael Schumacher and the Schumacher family as a force for good in the world in achieving cultural and social benefits”.