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Michael Schumacher with Benetton in 1995

Iconic F1 car made famous by Michael Schumacher is up for auction and could cost £500,000

Michael Schumacher with Benetton in 1995 — Photo: © IMAGO

Iconic F1 car made famous by Michael Schumacher is up for auction and could cost £500,000

One of the most beautiful F1 cars ever made

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An iconic F1 car made famous by the legendary Michael Schumacher could soon fetch £500,000 when it goes under the hammer.

Bonhams has revealed that a 1991 Jordan-Ford 191 is set to go to auction at the Goodwood Revival Collectors' Motor Cars and Automobilia auction, with an estimated sale somewhere between £325,000 and £525,000.

Keen F1 fans will know that the Jordan 191 is made famous by the fact that it is the car in which Schumacher made his debut in the sport at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, although this specific chassis does not mention that it was driven by him.

The Jordan 191 is also famous for its iconic look, with its bold blue and green 7UP livery and distinctive aerodynamics bringing on nostalgia even for those of us who were not yet born at the time it raced.

Alongside Schumacher, four other F1 drivers raced in a Jordan 191, with Bertrand Gachot, Roberto Moreno, Alessandro Zanardi and Andreas de Cesaris having all made appearances throughout the 1991 F1 campaign.

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Michael Schumacher's remarkable F1 debut

As mentioned, the Jordan 191 was Schumacher's first-ever F1 car, and the story of how he landed the drive, and what went on to transpire, is a legendary tale.

With Jordan's full-time driver Gachot having been jailed after an incident involving a London taxi driver, Eddie Jordan and his team were on the lookout for a replacement for the Belgian Grand Prix.

At that time, Schumacher was backed by Mercedes, racing in sportscars and had never driven F1 machinery. However, he landed the Jordan drive, completing a 20-lap test in a Jordan 191 at Silverstone just days ahead of the grand prix weekend at Spa.

Despite a severe lack of F1 experience, Schumacher went on to impress, putting the Jordan 191 seventh on the grid for the race and outqualifying experienced teammate de Cesaris.

We'll never know how Schumacher would have got on in the race, with his grand prix lasting only a few hundred metres after an early clutch failure.

Still, Schumacher had done enough across the weekend to impress Bennetton enough to put him in their car from the very next GP, albeit causing a legal dispute with Jordan, who also felt they had a contract with Schumacher.

In the end, Schumacher went on to race at Bennetton for four and a bit years, winning world titles in 1994 and 1995 before making the switch to Ferrari in 1996, where he would go on to take his championship tally to seven.

Never forget, though, it all started in a Jordan 191.

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