You could own Michael Schumacher's first F1 car | GRR
Today we think of Michael Schumacher as one of F1's true greats. But everyone starts out as a rookie. It just so happened that Schumacher’s first drive in F1 made crystal clear his latent potential. That drive was in this, the quite beautiful Jordan 191, shod in green and blue rather than the red and white of Ferrari he has since become synonymous with. One of the seven 191s produced, and the two that Schumacher drove, could be yours, with Bonhams offering the car at its February Retromobile sale.
It's funny how history falls and courses are set, for Schumacher was never destined for that drive at Spa in 1991. If not for Jordan driver Bertrand Gachot’s stint behind bars, leaving the seat open for Schumacher, the history books could look very different today.
Schumacher, just 22 years of age and without so much as a lap under his belt at Spa, jumped into this car that he had never driven before and set the eighth fastest time in FP1. He followed that up with a superb seventh in qualifying, ahead of his vastly more experienced teammate, Andrea de Cesaris. Even though he didn’t actually finish the race – or a single lap for that matter – his qualifying performance was the talk of the paddock. By the next race, he was in a Benetton; the rest is history.
Since that fateful weekend, this car has spent the better part of a decade and a half in a Belgian collection, before being raced in the Boss F1 series. It’s also been to the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard a few times. Its most famous outing recently was in the hands of Michael Schumacher’s son Mick, who at the time was taking part in his debut F1 season for Haas and who drove it around Silverstone commemorating 30 years since his Dad’s auspicious debut.
The Jordan 191 is a merit-worthy car even aside from the Schumacher connection. A surprising top performer for the newcomer Team 7Up Jordan team, it has in the years since also been voted the best-looking F1 car of all time. Bonhams expects it to make between £1.25 and £1.75million when it goes under the hammer, even as an exclusive ‘purple paddle’ lot. Deservingly so, by our reckoning.