Schumi on verge of history

Raf Casert

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001 | 10:11 a.m.

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium - Michael Schumacher returns to his Formula One roots this weekend to try to become the sport's most successful driver.

The Belgian Grand Prix circuit, a treacherous trek through thickly wooded hills in southern Belgium, is seen as the toughest test in Formula One, and the German has responded throughout his decade-old career.

At Spa, he qualified for his first Formula One race in 1991 and won his first Grand Prix a year later. Now, he can use the same stage to rise above everybody else.

Winning the Hungarian Grand Prix two weeks ago not only gave him a fourth World Championship title, it also drew him even with Alain Prost with 51 victories.

And where better to seek out his place in history than here? The great Juan Fangio won the first Belgian Grand Prix in 1950, in the daredevil style that marked the heroic age of auto racing. On a much longer Spa circuit, Fangio averaged 110.04 mph. When Schumacher won his first race 42 years and countless technological advances later, he barely went faster, averaging 118.95 mph.

The Argentine went on to win five World Championships, another record that Schumacher will try to equal next year. Whatever happens, Schumacher will still look up to Fangio.

"What (Fangio) did ... when you think of the times, the safety, the car, that makes what we have achieved very small," Schumacher said.

Despite a crash in training last week, Schumacher can attack the Belgian Grand Prix with little pressure on his shoulders. The world title is already his and the constructor's title belongs to Ferrari.

"To achieve a situation like this was our target from the very beginning - and I still have the feeling that we are not yet at our peak, that we can go further," he said before Friday's opening training session.

He also has full confidence in his car on a circuit that tests both chassis and engine.

"I am convinced that Ferrari still has the potential to raise the performance and to improve on the mechanical side," he said.

Apart from his own performance this weekend, Schumacher said his mind will also be on teammate Rubens Barrichello, who is still in a good position to finish second in the overall standings. The Brazilian is trailing runner-up David Coulthard 51-46. Schumacher already has 94.

"To some degree, if I can help him, you can be sure I will. That is the way teamwork has to be, especially if a great year for Ferrari is to become a perfect one," the German said.

Schumacher no longer needs help from anyone to be counted among the giants of his sport.

Prost, known as the "professor" for his methodical style, also won four world titles to match his 51 victories. At age 32, Schumacher still seems to have many good years ahead of him. Prost said 70 wins might be in the German's reach.

When it comes to mystique, though, Schumacher is still no match for the deceased Ayrton Senna.

Many still consider the Brazilian the greatest racer, a master of pure speed whose concentration and aura long bedazzled Formula One fans.

Nowhere is there a better testimonial to his greatness than his record of career pole positions - 65, compared with Schumacher's 41.

Since his death at the 1994 Imola Grand Prix, his memory lives on - especially in Spa, where his mastery of the 4.329 mile circuit earned him a memorial along the track.

Senna won the Belgian Grand Prix a record five times. To see the Brazilian blaze through a sheet of rain into the blind, uphill Raidillon-Eau Rouge combination curb, the most frightening stretch in Formula One, was to see racing at its best.

Reputations are often made in the rain, and Senna was considered the best wet-weather driver. Schumacher, however, is not far behind.

Schumacher's total here stands at four, but he could easily have moved beyond Senna's five already.

In 1994, officials took away a victory because of a minor infraction in the setup of the car.

Three years ago, after one of the biggest pileups in Formula One history, Schumacher seemed on his way to an easy win when he was blinded by a spray of rain and slammed into David Coulthard's suddenly slowing car.

He hasn't won here since.