Sale
16256 - Important Collectors’ Motor Cars, Pioneer and Vintage Motorcycles and Fine Automobilia, 1 Dec 2008
Olympia, London
General Sale Information
Lot No: 662Ω
The Ex-Nelson Piquet /Alessandro Nannini/Roberto Moreno
1990-91 Benetton B190 Formula 1 Racing Single-Seater
Chassis no. B190-S/C 6
Sold for £12,075 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
Footnote:
The Benetton Formula 1 team contested the FIA World Championship Grand Prix races from 1986-2001. The team was owned by the Italian Benetton family whose worldwide chain of clothing stores is so well known. In 2000 the team was purchased by Renault, but continued to compete as Benetton through 2001 before in 2002 adopting the Renault F1 title.
The Benetton Group entered Formula 1 as a sponsor of the Tyrrell team in 1983, before redirecting its support first to Alfa Romeo for 1984-85, and then the British-based Toleman team in 1985. Benetton Formula Ltd was formed at the end of 1985 when the Benetton family bought the Toleman Formula 1 operation. The team began racing with turbocharged BMW engines before switching to Ford. The team was managed by Flavio Briatore from 1990 to 1997, when he was replaced by Rocco Benetton who eventually negotiated the organisation’s sale to Renault for a reported US $120-million.
While the Benetton team is best known for its success with Michael Schumacher who scored 19 of the team's 27 Grand Prix victories and took two Drivers’ World Championship titles, Benetton also won the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship title in 1995. When Schumacher moved to Ferrari to begin his long and ultra-successful career with the Italian marque, he took along with with Benetton team engineers Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Nigel Stepney and several other key figures.
This particular Benetton Formula 1 car was built for the 1990 Formula 1 season, when team drivers were the former three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet, the Italian Alessandro Nannini and later Brazilian Roberto Moreno.
It appears that this particular car was first completed by Benetton in the mid-season of 1990, and was employed as the team spare at Ricard-Castellet for the French Grand Prix, and then again at Silverstone for the following British World Championship round. In 1991 the chassis was taken over for promotional purposes, the 1990 B190 being repainted in 1991 livery to mirror the colours in which that season’s Benetton drivers, Michael Schumacher, Moreno and Piquet campaigned the cars with Ford HB V8 engines installed. In the 1990 Benetton-Ford B-190 cars, Piquet finished 2nd in Canada and won both the Japanese and Australian GPs at the end of the season.
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