Humble Schu takes it in his stride

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER has insisted he was not worthy enough to be compared with Juan Manuel Fangio after becoming the most successful driver in Formula One history by winning a sixth World Championship.

The German also became the first man since Fangio 46 years ago to win the drivers’ crown four years in succession after finishing eighth at the Japanese Grand Prix to take the title by two points from McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.

“I am not trying to compare myself with Fangio, I don’t think that would be justified,” said the Ferrari driver of the Argentinian who dominated the championship in the 1950s when it was in its infancy.

“I have a lot of respect for what Fangio achieved. What he did stands for itself and what we achieved today is unique in another way.

“That man is much higher than I see myself, you cannot take a personality like Fangio and compare him with what is happening today. There is not even the slightest comparison.”

Schumacher grabbed the point he needed after battling his way from the back of the field when he damaged his nose cone in a sixth lap collision with BAR’s Takuma Sato.

The 34-year-old, who won his first two titles with Benetton in the mid 1990s, would have taken the title anyway as team-mate Rubens Barrichello won the race to deny second placed Raikkonen the victory he needed.

Schumacher admitted the grand prix in front of a record 160,000 crowd at Suzuka was one of the toughest of his 194-race career as he was also hit by the Williams-BMW of younger brother Ralf during a three-man battle with Toyota’s Cristiano da Matta.

“We are driving for our teams and not as brothers,” said Schumacher, whose wife, Corinna, and manager, Willi Weber, were sporting caps commemorating his sixth title within minutes of him crossing the finish line.

“I don’t know exactly how it was, why Ralf was hitting me, if I was fighting with da Matta or he was attacking me I don’t know. I haven’t seen the video but it was close and as long as nothing happened it was totally okay.

“It was a very crazy race. Even before the race I had a very strange feeling and that is why I always said I don’t think it will be easy.

“I was attacking Sato and at first I thought it was okay. He was opening the door and I went to go inside and at that moment he went inside and take my nose. From that moment it was really chaotic.

“When you are at the back of the field it is worrying. You don’t know how it is going to work out and there are lots of thoughts going through your mind but fortunately I had a good car that made me able to fight back.

“Every title is important and considering how this year went to get the fifth constructors’ championship in a row this is unbelievable. What we have achieved as a team has never happened before.

“Today me as a driver and more so the team have made history, that is an extreme moment. I cannot put it into words but really there are no words for this.”

In the meantime, Kimi Raikkonen looked forward to a prosperous 2004 season after failing to prevent Schumacher claiming a record-breaking sixth world title.

Finn Raikkonen, who needed to win the Japanese Grand Prix and hope Schumacher finished outside of the points to lift a maiden world title, came home second to the German’s Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello at Suzuka.

Schumacher did enough to secure the title himself by finishing in eighth and picking up one point to leave Raikkonen, who celebrates his 24th birthday next Friday, disappointed.

But he believes his McLaren team can look to a positive 2004 if they can extract more speed from their package. “I think it has been a good season for us and for me,” Raikkonen said. “We really had big expectations before the start of the season and I think we have done very well.

“We have been quite quick and the car has been much better, much more reliable than last year and we have improved a lot. The team have worked very hard all season.

“But this year maybe we were consistent but just not up there on the speed and hopefully we can catch up for next year. We were just not good enough this year to win the title.”

Raikkonen and team-mate David Coulthard have used a modified version of last year’s car this season after the team’s new car proved to be unreliable when first tested mid-way through the campaign.

The young Finn is hoping McLaren make big strides on their performance in winter testing - just as they did last year - and is targeting a double world championship success in 2004.

“I think if we can improve as much as we did over the last winter we should be in a good position to fight for all the wins and to have a good chance to win both titles,” he added.