One billion dollars, because I'm worth it

The area on the front of his baseball cap is particularly valuable.

He wears that cap at all times except when he is on the podium (when drivers must don a cap bearing the name of their team's tyre manufacturer).

During the five years that the single word 'Dekra' featured on the 3in by 4in Schumacher billboard, the German automotive parts company became an internationally recognised corporate name, and the branded cap became one of the best-selling items of clothing in Germany.

When the space came up for sale two years ago McDonald's bid £2m for it, but lost out to a German bank happy to cough up £4.8m over three years. The snappy name Deutsche Verm?gensberatung is now a household word not just in Germany but among petrolheads worldwide. His replica baseball cap already sells 700,000 annually and this year sales are expected to exceed the million.

A key arm of Schumacher Inc is his collection of licensed merchandise. This extends well beyond the usual T-shirts, miniature cars, mugs and calendars.

The Schumacher range also includes pillowcases, petrol cans, plastic bedside lamps moulded tastefully in the shape of his head, recipe books and a deodorant cased in a miniature helmet.

It is said that a single negotiating detail accounts for much of Schumacher's wealth. He is believed to have done a deal with Ferrari giving him the right to use the Ferrari brand on the hundreds of licensed products bearing his own name. That generates greater selling power.

But it doesn't stop there. Like Villeneuve and David Coulthard, Schumacher owns a restaurant and another opens imminently.

Furthermore, according to the French motorsport magazine Autohebdo, Schumacher's manager Willi Weber wants to sell Schumacher-branded nutritional food additives called Power For Champs, marketed only through chemists. If Weber considers this a good idea, then his No1 client - he also takes care of Michael's brother Ralf - is likely to go along with it.

Weber and Schumacher have been together since the latter was 20.

Back then in 1989 Weber was a hotelier running a Formula 3 team.

He signed Schumacher on a 10-year management contract, including a reported clause giving him 20 per cent of Schumacher's income.

Funnily enough Weber is no longer a hotelier, although when the contract came up for renewal in 1999, Schumacher negotiated the 20 per cent downwards.

All Schumacher's image lacks is any sex appeal, but on the other hand his private life shows no sign of damaging his marketability.

About the most scandalous episode in his life came 11 years ago, when he started going out with the ex-girlfriend of Schumacher's compatriot and fellow driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Not quite in the Gerhard Berger league of gossip fodder.

Michael and Corinna, who subsequently married, are so low-profile that they even abandoned life in Monaco for the quieter environs of Switzerland.

They live there with their children Gina Maria and Mick, and two cats named Mosley and Ecclestone (after Max and Bernie, who run Formula One). Home is a modern villa, La Domaine de la Chenaie in Vufflens-le-Chateau, near Nyon.

It overlooks Lake Geneva and has an indoor gym, swimming pool and games room.

Schumacher is reported to be seeking planning permission for a ranch-style property in the same area. He trains, and sometimes plays, with the local football team.

He has also donated a park to the village children.

He has another home in Norway, but has fewer toys than many Formula One drivers. His are limited to a Challenger private plane, a collection of Ferraris and Mercedes, and a customised Harley Davidson. No yachts for him.

It is difficult to imagine him doing as brother Ralf once did, and paying £20,000 for a private jet to collect his pet dog and bring it on holiday.

In Germany, Schumacher is celebratedas a working-class hero. His father was a bricklayer and his mother served frankfurters and chips at the local caff.

Now their eldest son is set to become sport ' s first dollar billionaire, possibly in the same season that he equals Juan Manuel Fangio's all-time record of five world titles. His win in Melbourne 11 days ago did that ambition no harm at all.

And of course, he is only 33. Michael Schumacher, sterling billionaire? Hold on to your branded hats. There is time yet.