One to Buy: ex-Jean Alesi 1994 Ferrari 348 Spider
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Having signed for Tyrrell mid way through the 1989 season, a combination of devastating single lap pace and wily race craft saw Jean Alesi become F1’s hottest young talent.
Despite contesting only half the races in 1989, Alesi ended the season ninth in the Drivers’ Championship, outscoring team-mate Jonathan Palmer (who did all 16 rounds) by four points to one.
After being given an 18 month contract with Tyrrell following his stunning fourth place debut finish at the ‘89 French Grand Prix, Williams and Ferrari both sought Alesi’s signature for the 1991 season. Ultimately, Ferrari paid an extraordinary $4m to buy out the contract Alesi had signed with Williams.
Unfortunately, Alesi’s arrival at Ferrari coincided with a rapid downturn in the Italian team’s fortunes. With no realistic hope of winning races for the first couple of seasons, Alesi had to make do with the occasional podium finish.
Although still blighted by poor reliability, things began to improve with the arrival of Ferrari’s 412 T1 in 1994 and, that year, Alesi took delivery of the 348 Spider you see here: chassis 99230.
Supplied by the Swiss Ferrari distributor based in Nyon on Lake Geneva, Alesi’s 348 Spider was delivered on June 3rd 1994, a week after his fourth place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix. Configured in Rosso Corsa with Nero upholstery, Alesi retained the car until 2015 at which point it joined the collection of the consigning owner in Antibes where it shared space with a variety of classic and modern Ferraris.
According to Artcurial (who will be auctioning chassis 99230 in Paris on January 27th along with Alesi’s 1992 F92A Formula 1 car): “the logbook attests to meticulous servicing, with the last major service carried out by Ferrari Cavallari in Monaco on the 16th February 2024 (at 35,600 km) for almost €10,000, including replacement of the timing kit, all filters, spark plugs, accessory belts, camshaft oil seals, etc.”.
A matching numbers two owner car accompanied by its original book pack and tool kit, chassis 99230 heads to auction showing a little under 36,000km on the odometer.
