Schuey restores German pride

Exactly 10 years after his debut at Spa, he triumphed for the fifth time on the same circuit to become the winningest driver in the sport's history. His 52nd win is one more than previous record holder and fellow four-time champion Alain Prost.

At the same time, he matched Ayrton Senna and Jim Clark's record of five wins at the legendary Spa track. For German fans packing the track close to their border, it went some way to making up for a 5-1 drubbing in Munich at the hands of a reborn England football team.

"Spa is traditionally one of the few great tracks, like Monte Carlo, and has a very high value to the drivers - at least in my view," said Schumacher. "To win here is always something special. I have loads of memories collected over 10 years.

"It's outstanding to [take the record] here. Obviously there was not a big fight involved this time except on the first lap with Ralf. After that, it was a straightforward race, obviously not exciting to watch from outside, but the feeling is nice.

"What is good is winning the championship with a victory in Hungary and now we have had another race win here. A lot of people think we would take it easy but we are not. Doing it here so close to my home is an extra satisfaction."

The Ferrari ace said he was disappointed to see his side thrashed so comprehensively by old enemy England, but the result had been put into perspective by the wife of Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn.

"Ross's wife said, 'listen, tonight it is England and tomorrow it is Germany, and that's the way it went," he added. "I think it's 26 years (actually, it was 36 - ed) since England last beat Germany in Germany, so you can live with that.

Schumacher has now won eight of 14 races this season and must win two of the last three to set a new record total of 10 in a season. He currently shares the record of nine with Nigel Mansell, who was a spectator in Belgium and chatted with Schumacher before the start of the race.

"I don't know what was wrong with the Williams, but if they had made the same start at the second start as they did at the first, Ralf would certainly have got by me at the first bend," said Schumacher. "Luckily he didn't and I got a clear run.

"After that I raced away and I am delighted to have got this win. I was pushing flat out until the second stop and then eased up. But then I thought I should open up a gap to allow for an extra pit stop because we didn't know what the weather would do. In the end we didn't need it

"When everything fits together you can do these sorts of things and today we did. The only worrying moment I had was at Turn 15 when I lost concentration because I was playing with too many buttons...

"I ran wide and almost went into the barrier. But when you drive on the limit that is what can happen."