Feature: Schumacher Still has Records to Claim

Michael Schumacher may soon have only his own records to beat but there are still a few Formula One milestones remaining with someone else's name carved on them.

The World Champion's masterful Belgian Grand Prix victory on Sunday was his record 10th of the season and extended an extraordinary Ferrari streak of 50 successive races with podium finishes.

With three more races to come and Ferrari having won 12 of the 14 races so far, there is every reason to expect more records to be set before the curtain finally comes down on 2002.

Next season Schumacher will face a new challenge as he attempts to become the first driver to win six Championships, breaking the record he holds jointly with Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.

Schumacher can also set his sights on Fangio's unprecedented achievement of four successive drivers' titles and possibly even a fifth in a row before the end of 2004 when his Ferrari contract is due to end. Before that, every race brings a feast of new achievements and records.

Clark's Record

Lost in the excitement of Schumacher's 10th win of the season, one more than the record he previously shared with Briton Nigel Mansell, a few other landmark statistics popped up on Sunday.

By starting on pole, setting the fastest lap and winning in Belgium, Schumacher equalled the record set by the late British World Champion Jim Clark of 11 such 'hat-tricks'.

Schumacher's 63 wins are a record, as are his 923 points, his 50 fastest laps, his 19 successive races in the points and 16 podium finishes in a row.

The German has covered more laps and kilometres in the lead than any other driver in the history of the sport, and also shares the record for the number of times he has won the same Grand Prix - six in France and Belgium.

His exploits have sent the statisticians thumbing through the record books in search of even more arcane achievements for the German to reach.

Schumacher has won at every circuit on the calendar and, after his fastest lap in Saturday's qualifying at Spa on Saturday, started on pole at all of them as well. But he is still trailing Ayrton Senna's record, dating back to 1994, of 65 pole positions. Schumacher has 48.

Senna also holds the record for successive pole positions - eight - while Mansell stands alone with 14 in a single season. Italian Alberto Ascari, in 1953, chalked up nine wins in a row while Schumacher has managed only six.

Senna also holds the records for successive wins at the same race, five in Monaco from 1989 to 1993, and for wins from pole position - 29 to Schumacher's 24.

Monza

Next up there is Monza, the Italian circuit near Milan that is a temple to all things Ferrari. Last year Schumacher was stunned by the September 11 attacks on America and was in no mood to race, finishing fourth.

That race now stands out as the last time he was off the podium and Schumacher will be expected to be up there again in front of the red army of cheering fans in two weeks' time. It is something he says that he is looking forward to without taking anything for granted.

"I don't think we can ask for so much, honestly," he said after his win at Spa. "We have achieved so much this year that it would probably be a little arrogant to ask for more. We just take what comes and we do our best."