Schumacher fast joining F1 legends

Only in one regard is he a long way short of an all-time record. He has 40 pole positions to his name, compared to the 65 secured by the all-time king of qualifying, the late Ayrton Senna.

Mention of the Brazilian's name prompts the usual debate about which of the two should be considered the better driver, and whether Schumacher is a contender for the title of the greatest driver of all time.

Some believe it is significant that Schumacher's existing record has been achieved from 154 grand prix starts, whereas Prost required 199, and Senna was driving his 161st grand prix when he died at Imola seven years ago. The German's nearconqueringof the statistical history book makes for a persuasive argument, but he would be the first to point out that there is no knowing what Senna's relentless thirst for victory might have brought him had he lived.

But Schumacher can be genuinely questioned in two key areas. First, he has never had to fight a teammate for the world championship. Similarly, at the peak of his powers he has never had to contend with another driver who was also clearly among the all-time greats. Prost and Senna not only fought one another, but drove in the same era as threetime champion Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, who won the title once and was second three times.

Moreover in 1988 and 1989 Prost and Senna both drove for McLaren. The significance of this was shown most clearly in 1988, not because they won seven and eight races (out of 16) respectively, but because Senna won the title. The super-irony was that Prost's consistency literally cost him the crown. He was second in all but one of the races Senna won, but back then only the 11 best results counted towards the title. Had all results counted, Prost would have won it by a street.

Schumacher has accumulated his record statistics without having to contend with either a team-mate or a great rival. He will never have to fight a team-mate for a result, never mind a championship, because Ferrari - where the 32-year-old is contracted to stay until the end of 2004, when he will probably retire - is built around him.

This means not only is his teammate obliged to let Schumacher pass when so ordered, but also gets a tiny share of testing and so is vastly less familiar with the car.

"Why certain drivers haven't come to Ferrari I don't know," claimed Schumacher recently, all innocence. "There was talk that maybe David Coulthard was coming but he wasn't happy as long as I was there. Jacques Villeneuve was the same. I would have no problem with being alongside a top driver like Villeneuve or Mika Hakkinen. So is it me, or is it others who don't want to come?"

Er, it's you, Michael. His whole statement is guff of the first order because it deliberately omits any mention of the fact that his teammate, now Rubens Barrichello, is employed as his bag carrier. The idea that any of the drivers mentioned by Schumacher would happily sign for such a job is absurd.

Equally far-fetched is the idea that Schumacher would tolerate any of them as a genuinely equal teammate. Which is a pity, because for as long as Schumacher's team-mate is his bag carrier, the German cannot be unquestionably the greatest driver of all time.