The Ferrari 310B – Michael Schumacher’s car of controversy

While the racing driver himself was unfortunately unable to make the celebrations, he was more than there in spirit, with 13 of his cars parading up the historic hillclimb in marvellous formation, flanked by team-mates, friends and his wife Corinna. 

Schumacher was a record-breaker. Even Schumacher’s rivals will concede to the official Formula 1 website statement that he was “statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen" at the time of his retirement.

Contesting 306 Grands Prix from 1991–2006 and 2010–2012, Schumacher achieved a record seven World Championships (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), also claiming records for most wins (91), most wins with the same team (72), most wins in a season (13), most podiums (155) and most fastest laps (77). Suffice to say, by the time of his retirement, he had rewritten the Formula 1 record books. 

One car that caught our eye in the magnificent parade was this Ferrari F310B, driven by Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine during the 1997 season, Schumacher’s second year with Ferrari. 

Schumacher joined Ferrari with a bang in 1996, taking three race wins – more than the team had won in the period from 1991 to 1995. Despite his F310 – the first Ferrari F1 car to use the more conventional V10, which offered the best compromise between power and fuel efficiency – suffering reliability issues, and not finishing six of the 16 races, he went on to achieve a third place in the drivers' championship, while helping Ferrari to second place in the constructors' championship.

The following year, improvements to the shape and mechanicals of the F310 gave the team the F310B – the last Ferrari to be designed by John Barnard, who left the team before the beginning of the season.

Powered by a Ferrari Tipo 046/2 75-degree V10, the F310B was also the last of Ferrari’s ‘wide track’ cars, before the 1998 regulations enforced a narrower chassis width and the use of grooved tyres.

Immediately, it showed promise, with Schumacher achieving a second place in the first round in Australia. At the wheel of various F310Bs, he went on to win that year’s Monaco, Canadian, French, Belgian and Japanese Grands Prix, coming second also in San Marino and Germany. 

Despite this impressive string of successes, in the season finale at Jerez, Schumacher’s car suffered a coolant leak and he lost power, struggling to stay ahead of second place man Jacques Villeneuve. When Villeneuve went for a pass, Schumacher turned in on the Canadian’s Williams, his front right wheel connecting with the sidepod and sending Schumacher spinning into the gravel. He retired and was eventually disqualified from the 1997 Championship due to ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’.

The model – chassis no. 179 – that took to the Hill at the 2019 Festival of Speed was owned by Nicholas Schorsch and piloted by Robbie Kerr. It is said to be a development of the original F310B with a lighter body and higher fuel capacity.

Reportedly Schumacher drove this particular car during practice at Spa-Francorchamps, but another chassis was prepared for wet weather in the race, which he won. It was later driven by Irvine, who pushed it to eighth place at Monza, before tangling with Jean Alesi’s Benetton in the Austrian Grand Prix, a crash which forced the Northern Irishman to retire.

Photography by Joe Harding, main image courtesy of Motorsport Images.