Thursday, April 20, 2000 | 7:53 a.m.
SILVERSTONE, England - Michael Schumacher is as hot as his flaming-red Ferrari. Make that the engine, too.
Driving the best car the great Formula One team has produced in a generation, the jut-jawed German has steered to victory in the season's first three races. He's well on his way to bringing long-suffering Italian fans their first driver's title since 1979 - fulfillment of a promise he made when he joined the team five years ago.
But the two-time series champion faces a big test Sunday. He returns to the British Grand Prix, where he was nearly killed nine months ago in a wreck.
Still, the 31-year driver seems mentally refreshed and physically stronger since breaking his right leg when his brakes failed and he smashed head-on into a tire barrier in Silverstone, England.
"I won't feel at all strange," Schumacher said of racing again on the converted World War II airfield. "Where a crash happens doesn't really matter."
His came at Stowe Corner, a turn drivers approach at 190 mph.
"If you arrive with no brakes it can happen anywhere, at any corner," he said. "You can't do anything about it. The only thing I will be checking up on is that they have a better run-off area."
Schumacher, who has 38 career victories and is in position to challenge the record 51 of Alain Prost, got an eerie reminder last week of his wreck. In rain-soaked testing at Silverstone, British American Racing driver Ricardo Zonta crashed at the same corner.
Zonta pin-wheeled through a spin and flipped when he hit the tire barrier. He walked away with only a cut finger.
Schumacher has been pushing Silverstone officials for more safety changes.
Silverstone has spent close to $1 million on improvements this year, and has added an extra layer to the tire barrier. That might be needed because the race has been moved up by three months and will now be run in the middle of England's wettest season.
After only three races, Schumacher has a 21-point lead over new teammate Rubens Barrichello, and is 24 ahead of two-time defending champion Mika Hakkinen of McLaren.
Hakkinen has won all three poles but completed only one race in his breakdown-prone car, still regarded as the fastest on the globe-trotting circuit.
"We have the momentum, but we know how quick and lively Formula One can be," said Schumacher, who won titles for Benetton in 1994 and 1995. "Even though Mika is behind by 24 points, it is still very early in the championship."
And history has taught the Ferrari camp not to count out the McLarens. The last time Ferrari started this well was 1976, when it won five of the first six races - four by for Niki Lauda. But McLaren's James Hunt won the title that season by a point over Lauda.
Lauda won for Ferrari in 1977, and South African Jody Scheckter took the title in 1979.
Ferrari's main improvement has been in aerodynamics and a lowered center of gravity. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has been so pleased with the car that he gave race chief Ross Brawn a giant hug after Schumacher won two weeks ago in Imola, Italy.
"I am so proud of you, my Englishman," he said. "I am glad to say now you are also a little bit Italian."
Meanwhile, it's been an awful start for McLaren. The team's No. 2 driver, David Coulthard, was disqualified from a second-place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix when stewards ruled the front wing of his car was illegal.
McLaren didn't pick up its first points until the third race, in Imola, when Hakkinen finished second and Coulthard third.
"It's a heck of a gap to make up," Hakkinen conceded. "The only way to make it up is to win races."
Coulthard also hasn't given up hope.
"We've got plenty of races left, so the opportunity is there, but we've got to get 16 points at Silverstone," he said. "We have to make sure he's no higher than third."
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