Late last year, former F1 ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he was going on a selling spree. The 94-year-old partnered with UK-based performance car specialist Tom Hartley Jr to sell 69 legendary cars from his personal collection — including Michael Schumacher’s championship-winning Ferrari F2002, from the 2002 F1 season.
Explaining his reasons for parting ways with his cherished collection, through a private sale, Ecclestone said, “I love all of my cars, but the time has come for me to start thinking about what will happen to them should I no longer be here, and that is why I have decided to sell them,” as per Motorsport.com.
Showcasing ‘Bernie Ecclestone Grand Prix Collection’, Tom Hartley Jr. took to his YouTube channel to talk about the significance of the F2002.
️ Bernie Ecclestone to sell his legendary £500M F1 collection – 69 cars including Schumacher’s championship Ferrari, the infamous Brabham fan car, and Moss’s historic Vanwall.
This is THE most significant Formula 1 and Grand Prix car collection ever offered for private sale. A… pic.twitter.com/VFMEIOOrqH
— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) December 2, 2024
The F2002 was produced in the third year of the Scuderia’s dominance with Schumacher. However, what makes this car so special is that it ran to victory not only at the hands of the then-four-time world champion but also his highly-rated teammate, Rubens Barrichello.
This made the chassis the first since the Ferrari 312T (1977) to win a race with both their factory team drivers. The F2002 competed in a total of 19 races between the 2002 and 2003 seasons, winning a staggering 15 of them.
In the hands of Schumacher, the car won 10 out of the 15 races it competed in. In fact, the F2002 bagged a podium finish in every race it competed in the 2002 season when the German was behind the wheel of the car.
The alliance between Ecclestone and Hartley Jr. means that the car will not be auctioned, hence, the selling price of the chassis will never be publicly disclosed. However, another F2002 chassis was recently sold for a price of $6.6 million.
The legendary Grand Prix collection of Bernie Ecclestone
Reiterating his love for the collection, Ecclestone told GQ that he wanted to know where his beloved cars would end up, rather than “leave them for [his] wife to deal with” when he isn’t around anymore. And given the iconic status of the cars in his collection, one cannot blame him for being this sentimental.
One of the most iconic pieces of engineering in his collection is from his time owning the Brabham F1 team. Under his stewardship, the outfit designed the infamous ‘fan car’ — the Brabham BT46B.
The cheekily innovative design saw the car win its debut race, the 1978 Swedish GP, by a whopping 34 seconds with Niki Lauda behind its wheel. But before the FIA could outlaw the ‘fan car’, Ecclestone withdrew the design himself — making it an exquisite collector’s item for years to come.
Ecclestone also has a splattering of 1950s Ferrari F1 cars and the 1957 Vanwall VW5 which was pipped to the title that season by Juan Manuel Fangio and his pacy Maserati.
