Schumacher’s Hungary 1998 car on sale for $4.9 million

The car which Michael Schumacher drove during one of his greatest ever wins is to go on sale with an asking price of $4.9 million.

Schumacher won the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix in unlikely circumstances as McLaren and Championship leader Mika Haikkinen looked likely to take victory having secured pole position.

Haikkinen worked in tandem with his team-mate David Coulthard, who was in second, to give the Championship leader space ahead of Schumacher who was finding it tricky to overtake at the notoriously difficult Hungaroring.

But when Haikkinen’s car developed a problem with a shock absorber, Ross Brawn came up with the tactical idea to pit Schumacher for a second time.

The stop meant the German needed to gain 25 seconds in 19 laps and Brawn told Schumacher over the radio “We need 19 qualifying laps from you.”

Schumacher replied “Okay, thank you” and proceeded to produce one of the best drives of his career.

He overtook both McLaren drivers to win the Grand Prix by nine seconds and although Schumacher would go on to lose the 1998 Championship, it is a race that has long lived in the memory.

Schumacher, who achieved victory in 91 races in his career, described Hungary 1998 as one of his “most emotional wins.”

“The team picked the right strategy, although at first I was not quite sure if our plan would work out, as I was stuck behind Jacques and David for some time,” he said, as reported by Motorsport.com.

“In the end, it turned out that the team had made the right decision. Of course, we benefited from the problems of our competitors, although throughout the race I could easily match the pace of the McLarens.

“Ross told me I had 19 laps to make up a 25-second lead to stay in front after my third pit stop, so I pushed as