Schu heaps praise on team
The German is creating a career curriculum vitae that may never be surpassed and will surely last as long as that of Juan Manuel Fangio, whose mark of five driver's crowns he equalled on Sunday.
Schumacher already has more wins 61 is 23 greater than the rest of the grid combined more fastest laps and more points in total than any other driver in history, yet he shows no sign of letting up for two more years at least.
The eighth win in 11 races, in France on Sunday, left him just one short of the record he shares with Nigel Mansell for a single campaign. And he has six grands prix to come.
Ferrari's F-2003, predicted to be better than this year's all-conquering model, should propel him to an outright record sixth world championship and, like Fangio, a fourth in a row. Few would bet against a magnificent seven in 2004.
''You must always strive to be the best, but never believe you are,'' said Fangio, who dominated his sport for much of the 1950s in the same way that Schumacher has enjoyed hegemony for the past decade.
It is hard to believe Schumacher has not regarded himself as the best, an on and off-track demeanour often showing a contempt for certain rivals, like Damon Hill.
Schumacher acknowledged his place in the history books with a touching show of humility.
''I cannot compare myself with Fangio as what he achieved was in different times,'' he said at Magny-Cours.
''But as I took the flag, I felt an outburst of emotion and realised how much this all means and how much I love the sport.
''Thank you is too small a word for what the team has done for me. I love and admire all of them for the work they do and for their motivation.''
Comparing Fangio with Schumacher, or another South American legend in the late Ayrton Senna, is like trying to decide between Fred Perry, John McEnroe or Pete Sampras, or whether Tiger Woods deserves to rank ahead of Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones.
The overall statistics now place Schumacher above Fangio as Sampras reigns in tennis and Woods, despite Sunday's Open defeat, will likely one day be ahead of Nicklaus in golf's pecking order of major titles.
The equipment at Fangio and Schumacher's respective disposal is as chalk and cheese as the kit Duncan Edwards wore in the 1950s and David Beckham's present apparel, but both were deployed to the same devastating effect.
The cars Fangio drove in his goggles and open-faced helmet were World War II tank-like beasts requiring brute force to manoeuvre.
Contrast that to Schumacher and his ilk. They are cocooned in their state-of-the-art protective helmets and cockpit survival cells that have traction control and power steering.
Neither did Fangio have the advantage of instant radio communication with the computer boffins in the pit lane, who can control such variables as engine revs and fuel use with their fingertips.
But Fangio, who died almost seven years to the day that Schumacher equalled his record, did not have to face the same commercial pressures and intense scrutiny his successor encounters every time he leaves the haven of the motor home.
''I think Michael ranks right up there in the top three of all time with people like Fangio and Senna,'' said Ferrari's Manchester-born technical director, Ross Brawn.
''You can't really compare him because they are from different times. But Michael is the best of his age, no doubt. He sets the standard other drivers have to follow.''
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