Schumacher way ahead of rivals

Michael Schumacher is making records quicker than the Pop Idols can release them, but unlike those manufactured mannequins his achievements will enjoy a longevity akin to The Beatles.

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 yesterday.

Schumacher already has more wins - a total of 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, which he claimed in France yesterday finally to match the exploits of Fangio, left him just one short of the record he shares with Nigel Mansell for a single campaign. And he has six more grands prix to come.

Ferrari’s F-2003, already 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’s 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.

Though 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 yesterday.

‘‘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 even with 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 yesterday’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 around corners while also manly changing gears.

Contrast that to Schumacher and his ilk. Cocooned in their state-of-the-art protective helmets and cockpit survival cells, traction control and power steering make car craft look seemingly as easy as a child working the control pad on his PlayStation.

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.’’

Fangio always engineered himself into the best car available, switching from Alfa Romeo to Maserati then Mercedes and Ferrari before moving back to Maserati to win his final driver’s crown in 1957.

Only in the last couple of years can Schumacher claim to have had the best machinery with which to wreak havoc on the record books. He won his first two titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 when Williams palpably had the superior package.

Schumacher then took on the huge challenge of restoring a moribund Ferrari outfit to their former glories when he could easily have moved to McLaren or Williams when more titles would have been comfortably claimed.