1993 Benetton-Ford B193B Formula 1 Racing Single Seater

Chassis no. B193B-04

Bonhams is delighted to offer what is a very rare beast, a 1990s-era Formula 1 car driven in period by not just two Grand Prix-winning Formula 1 drivers, but by one who in period had built the longest-ever career within that pinnacle racing category (1977-93, 16 years), Riccardo Patrese and – of course – by that giant of motor sporting history, the great seven-times Formula 1 World Champion Driver, Michael Schumacher.

And there's more. Not only was this car used by these two great Formula 1 figures, so well known to past and present generations of motor racing enthusiasts, but it is offered here in ready-to-run, reliable demonstration-tune form, 'on the button'. Of course we recommend careful specialist inspection before a buyer seeks to experience the car, but it has been used regularly in its present 18-year ownership and was last demonstrated 'in high-speed anger' as recently as at this year's Goodwood Members' Meeting just a few months ago.

While the car was extensively test-driven, when current during 1993, by both Benetton Formula 1 team-mates Michael Schumacher and Riccardo Patrese, it was most notably used in qualifying for that year's British Grand Prix by the legendary German superstar, who promptly qualified it third fastest - bettered only by the then-dominant Williams-Renaults of Alain Prost and Damon Hill - before returning to his own originally-assigned sister chassis (serial '05) for the race itself.

This car – chassis 'B193B-04' was raced by its regular driver Riccardo Patrese in that British Grand Prix in which he took a podium place in it by finishing third behind race winner Alain Prost's victorious Williams-Renault FW15C and Michael Schumacher, second, in the sister Benetton-Ford B193B.

Overall, the Benetton-Ford offered here contested five of that year's Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix races, with Riccardo Patrese driving it home to finish fourth in Spain, and tenth after an interrupted race in France. The car retired from the Monaco Grand Prix with an engine problem after having run as high as fifth place round the historic streets of Monte Carlo.

The Canadian Grand Prix on Montreal's Ile de Notre Dame island circuit then saw Riccardo Patrese climb from seventh place in the opening stages to take fifth and hold that position for nine laps. However, the Italian driver spun at one point, injuring '04's nose and thus had to dive into the pits for repairs to be made. Riccardo rejoined but, later in this physically punishing race, he began to suffer severe cramp in his right leg which became so intense that he pulled into the pits again and retired on lap 53, having to be assisted from the cockpit in considerable pain.

The French Grand Prix at Ricard-Castellet then saw Patrese ram Christian Fittipaldi's Minardi from behind when the young Brazilian driver missed a gear right in the Benetton's path, midway around lap 60. Yet again Riccardo had to stop for a replacement nose section to be fitted, which dropped him to that tenth place finish which in that period was out of the World Championship points. But other than this French result, whenever this particular Benetton-Ford, now offered here, finished a Grand Prix it always did so in a points-scoring (top six) position.

The Benetton-Ford B193B had been designed under the direction of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, who subsequently became the technical brains behind Michael Schumacher's momentous tally of World Championship titles with Benetton (in 1994) and later with Ferrari.

This car - chassis '04' - was assembled around the very first carbon-composite monocoque chassis to be manufactured in the Benetton team's brand-new 85,000-square-foot Enstone factory, its 1992-season predecessors having been produced in their original ex-Toleman Formula 1 facility at Witney.

In fact the team's winter work-schedule had been formidable. After the remodelled organisation had been consolidated through 1992 to end that year with a 'passive-suspension' car which was reliable and which offered consistent results, Benetton became immersed in high-tech development of an intensity unmatched by any rival team. They attacked on a broad front, their winter work embracing everything from automatic gearboxes to active-ride suspension and traction control. Here was confidence and commitment of the most courageous kind.

While new Formula 1 regulations for 1993 mandated narrower tyres than hitherto, Brawn and Byrne concluded they needed a new car, instead of the heavily-revised 1992-series design that had been originally envisaged. Ross Brawn recalled: "We knew from the start that we would need to embrace all of the new technology. We weren't starting totally from scratch because we had good engineers with experience, but we knew that this would stretch us enormously and, to be honest, it was a bit more fraught than we had anticipated. But there was no turning back; we simply had to get on and do it".

This car reflects that 'can do' spirit. While Benetton were using the 3.5-litre naturally-aspirated (non-turbocharged) Cosworth Ford HB V8 engine, so did the rival McLaren team which provided a formidable yardstick by which to judge their own efforts. When they bettered McLaren's results these Benetton B193B cars had to be judged against the dominant Williams-Renault FW15Cs. Above all the Benetton cars were judged the better handling of the two rivals, but as the season progressed the Enstone team's fully-automatic starting system proved unreliable, costing Schumacher and Patrese time in this vital race phase. Riccardo Patrese's experience of active suspension, which he had brought to the team from his previous seat at Williams, proved invaluable through the early part of 1993, especially in testing and development.

The Seller is a dyed-in-the-wool Formula 1 enthusiast in general and Benetton car enthusiast in particular. '04' has been painstakingly preserved and prepared during its long current ownership. It harnesses an original Cosworth Ford HB V8 engine as used in period, and Benetton gearbox. The car is set up to be a trouble-free demonstration vehicle and therefore its engine is in slightly de-tuned form for reliable longevity and ease of maintenance, rather than in absolute no-holds-barred race tune as in period. In full race tune, of course, any Formula 1 engine could be regarded as a grenade which - when running hard - existed just barely short of detonation.

The car is equipped with passive suspension – again for ease of maintenance and running reliability – nor is it fitted with Benetton's contemporarily problematic auto-start control system. The HB engine itself has been regularly inspected and maintained for the current vendor by leading specialist Dick Langford's respected LPE company which in period cared for all the HB customer engines. The particular unit installed in chassis '04' here features the proven Motec electronic management system rather than its 1993 'weapons grade' original, and this again has proved an immensely practical advantage for the demonstration use to which the car has been put - to such fine effect - over many years.

The Seller has successfully run this car in numerous high-speed Formula 1 demonstrations at Goodwood and Silverstone, and also at Durban, South Africa, where it was driven by Ferrari's 1979 World Champion Driver Jody Scheckter in conjunction with a 'Top Gear' TV shoot, and also at Suzuka, Japan, in an event backed by Honda. Riccardo Patrese himself has reappeared in this particular car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and it has completed more laps of the Goodwood motor circuit, and more climbs of the renowned Goodwood hill, than almost any other contemporary Formula 1 car.

The car is accompanied here by a comprehensive documentation file including its full race and partial test history, and even preserving such fine detail as the precise advertising decal and livery suit which it carried in each of its public appearances, because – as all dedicated modern-era Formula 1 model makers will attest – the decals and minor sponsors would change position, design and product or company title from race to race. Therefore the new owner can choose and change the advertising & livery suit from the album choices as and when they wish.

Schumachers's own seat moulding for '04' is included with the sale and when Riccardo Patrese was reunited with this Benetton-Ford he signed both the chassis tub and his seat moulding within it. While Patrese's own seat-belts are included with the car, and have the correct adjustment position marked onto them with a relevant line and the initials 'RP', also included are another set of original seat belts marked for both 'RP and 'MS' – for Michael Schumacher - as used during testing and that fine qualifying run in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Along with the above, the new owner of the car will also receive another gearbox casing, two extra wheels, two extra radiators and two extra steering racks.

Only two of these Benetton-Ford B193B Formula 1 cars currently running anywhere in the world.

While chassis '04' as offered here is set-up to be maintainable, handleable and runnable by what the vendor describes as "a normal human being", make no mistake this car still offers sufficient Formula 1 snap, crackle and performance to give a new owner full appreciation of just how capable those bygone Grand Prix greats like Schumacher and Patrese really had to be in period.

We very much commend this fine Formula 1 survivor as being more than worthy of the closest consideration.