Schumacher rules off the track as well

Power lists are always subjective. The May issue of

Curiously it places Michael Schumacher top, one place ahead of the sport's ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, who also owns the magazine in which the list appears.

"There has never been a more powerful or more dominant individual in the sport," says the publication, not of Ecclestone, but of the four-time world champion.

The magazine says the five "really powerful" people in F1 are the leading driver, the leading constructor, the commercial rights holder, the head of the governing body and the leading car designer.

That means Schumacher; Luca di Montezemolo for his "amazing stewardship of Ferrari"; Ecclestone as president of Formula One Management; Max Mosley as president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile; and designer Adrian Newey, of McLaren.

Ninth is Ekrem Sami, the managing director of TAG McLaren Marketing Services, and the biggest raiser of sponsorship in the sport. He is ahead of Ferrari principal Jean Todt, and team owners Sir Frank Williams and Ron Dennis - 10th, 13th and 14th respectively. The second most powerful driver is Juan Pablo Montoya, of Williams. At 12th he is theoretically more powerful than the man he works for.

The youngest person on the list is Jenson Button (54th) at 22 years and three months. There are no women on the list and the majority of the men on it are millionaires.