Unnamed buyer scoops up Michael Schumacher's F2001 Ferrari for $7.5m at US auction

The Ferrari car with which Michael Schumacher won the 2001 Formula 1 world championship has been sold for $7.5m (£5.7m) to an unnamed buyer at an auction in New York on Thursday (16 November).

Sotheby's had estimated the car would be sold for between $4m and $5.5m, but it instead fetched what is understood to be a record figure for a modern F1 car.

Carrying the chassis number 211, the car was the one Schumacher drove as he won the Hungarian Grand Prix that season, clinching his fourth world title and the second consecutive championship with the Italian team.

The chassis is also the one with which the German legend secured a win in the Monaco Grand Prix in the same season, which would turn out to be his final success in the Principality.

Introduced at the beginning of the 2001 season, the Ferrari F2001 replaced the F1-2000 that had brought back the drivers' title to Maranello the previous season for the first time since 1979.

The new car proved to be even better than its predecessor, with Schumacher claiming nine wins and five second place finishes from 17 races, while teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second and third five times each.

Along with Schumacher's title, Ferrari also clinched a third constructors' championship in a row, to which they would three more until 2004.

Such was the superiority of the F2001 that Schumacher and Barrichelloused it in the opening races of the following season, with the German winning in Australia and finishing third in Malaysia. Barrichello, meanwhile, also continued to race in the 2001 Ferrari in the early stages of the 2002 season, but suffered three consecutive retirements and subsequently switched to the F2002, with which he would win four races and claim six podium finishes.

Overall, the F2001 retired with an outstanding record of 19 podiums in 20 races, including 10 wins. The car started from pole position in 13 occasions and led 18 of the 20 races it took place in, making it one of the most successful F1 cars of all times.