One Belgian milestone Schumacher could do without

Spa-Francorchamps has been the scene of many momentous moments in Michael Schumacher’s illustrious career, but this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix marks one he would rather forget.

Schumacher made his debut in the Belgian Grand Prix of 1991, winning it in 1992 and clinching a record seventh world championship in the Ardennes forest in 2004. But the 2005 race will mark the first grand prix since Schumacher’s five-year unbroken reign as Formula One king ended.

His pointless weekend in Monza meant Schumacher can now no longer catch Fernando Alonso at the top of the championship standings, confirming Formula One’s most successful driver’s current status as an also-ran.

Schumacher is coping well with the loss of his crown and prefers to salute the remarkable achievement of holding it for half a decade, rather than mourn the mediocre season which has seen it surrendered.

“It is not a problem,” he said. “It is not surprising that it has happened. What is more surprising is that so much time has gone by before it has come to pass.

“I would never have believed it would have been possible to win five straight titles but I knew from the beginning that the run would have ended sooner or later.

“At the moment, this is less important than the need to get back to our best. This, for me, was the decisive factor last weekend as our performance was very different from that which I would have liked to have put on for our fans.”

Schumacher holds out little hope that he can get back among the front-runners in Belgium after such a disappointing home race for Ferrari last weekend.

“I don’t think that it will be possible to reverse the trend in such a short time,” he added. “We are quite a long way off the pace at the moment.

“Nevertheless, Spa is always something special for me. I love this track, it is totally to my taste – technically challenging and in beautiful scenery. It is also not far from my home town of Kerpen and I usually get a lot of my fans.”

Schumacher won his seventh crown at Spa 12 months ago, on a day when Kimi Raikkonen clinched his first win of the season.

Like Schumacher, the Finn is facing up to the premature end of his title challenge, with Fernando Alonso able to seal the championship in Belgium this weekend.

If Alonso scores four points more than Raikkonen, the title is his. But the McLaren driver, who is 27 points behind his Renault rival, is not giving up on his dream.

He said: “The drivers’ championship is still a real challenge for me, and as the season has shown so far this year, there is no guessing what will happen and nothing is over yet.

“There are still four races to be won this season and 40 points up for grabs, so I will fight hard with the team for maximum points every weekend.”