Perfection as imperious Schumacher takes record

The Ferrari was still a red blur through the forests when Nigel Mansell departed, acknowledging that his share of a Formula One record had gone, claimed outright, like so many others, by the irrepressible Michael Schumacher.

Mansell, the world champion in 1992, when he won nine rounds of the campaign, left early in a Belgian Grand Prix that became the latest landmark in Schumacher's unprecedented odyssey.

Three times Schumacher had equalled the Briton's achievement, but yesterday he eclipsed it, dominating the race with an exhibition of his mastery at this, the most revered circuit of them all. Rubens Barrichello again confirmed the superiority of the Ferrari, taking second place comfortably ahead of his closest rival for runner-up position in the championship, Juan Pablo Montoya, in a Williams-BMW.

However, it was Schumacher's comprehensive defeat of his team-mate which provided the significant gauge of the German's performance. He was a second a lap quicker than Barrichello until he backed off in the closing stages to spare his machinery the kind of stress that took a heavy toll on much of the field.

The victory was as emphatic as it was appropriate. Schumacher made his debut at this track 11 years ago and registered his maiden grand prix win here 12 months later. This is his sixth success in the race, one better than Ayrton Senna's total. Schumacher will also improve on his own record number of points for a season if he scores two more from the remaining three grands prix of the championship. Since he has scored in each of the last 19, it is scarcely rash to consider this mission a formality.

Ferrari have now stretched a sequence of consecutive podium places to 50, accumulated over a period of almost three years. Schumacher has contributed 28 of his 63 Formula One wins to that extraordinary run.

Schumacher scatters statistics like confetti, yet for him the satisfaction yesterday was emotional. He said: "I enjoyed myself and, after the first couple of laps, went flat out. I had fun and went for it. It's not always necessary to have a fight to have a good feeling in a race. Today the car was very good and I enjoyed that.

"In the later laps I slowed down because there was no point in taking any risks. We had seen other cars blowing their engines. Nigel came to see me beforehand and wished me good luck. That was nice of him.''

Mansell watched Schumacher make good use of his first pole position here, pulling clear of the ruck and heading off on his inevitable, impervious course to victory.

"I have no problem losing the record to Michael,'' Mansell said. "He's done a fantastic job, as have Ferrari. Their car has not only the speed but also the reliability. It's phenomenal. Michael already has five world championships and I can see him making it six next year.''

Schumacher played his part in Barrichello's quest to be runner-up in the championship by staying behind his partner in Hungary a fortnight ago, but such a gesture was never on the champion's agenda this time.

Not that Barrichello had any complaints. His second place was still good enough to extend his advantage over Montoya to seven points, and given the performance differential between their cars, the outcome of this undercard contest should not be in doubt. "It was still a good result for me," Barrichello said. "Michael has been dominant all weekend and I couldn't match his pace in the race."

Montoya resisted the attentions of both McLaren-Mercedes before taking third place. An engine failure forced Kimi Raikkonen to retire but he had been upstaged on this occasion by the other McLaren driver, David Coulthard, who finished fourth.

Raikkonen has justly been commended for recent performances and again out-qualified Coulthard here, yet the Scot reclaimed ground during the race. He said: "I take positives from this. We might not be able to think about beating Ferrari but I think we can beat Williams at Monza.''

Ralf Schumacher was fifth at the end of an erratic drive in the other Williams and Eddie Irvine earned the final point for sixth place, something of a landmark for the beleaguered Jaguar team. It was their first scoring finish since a fortuitous fourth place in the opening grand prix of the season at Melbourne.

Irvine, who qualified eighth, his best effort of the season, said: "We did everything right this weekend, from qualifying well to our race preparation and strategy. This is reward for that good work.''

Allan McNish was ninth for Toyota but Jenson Button retired his Renault with an engine problem after 10 laps and Anthony Davidson spun out in his Minardi, as he had done in Budapest.

RACE DETAILS

1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 21min 20.634sec (ave speed 225.970kph, 140.4mph).
2 R Barrichello (Br) Ferrari +1.977sec
3 J P Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW +18.445
4 D Coulthard (GB) McLaren-Mercedes +19.358
5 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW +56.440
6 E Irvine (GB) Jaguar +1min 17.370sec
7 M Salo (Fin) Toyota +1:17.809; 8 J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda +1 lap; 9 A McNish (GB) Toyota +1 lap; 10 N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber-Petronas +1 lap; 11 T Sato (Japan) Jordan-Honda +1 lap.

Not clasified (did not finish): G Fisichella (It) Jordan 38 laps completed; O Panis (Fr) BAR-Honda 38; P de la Rosa (Sp) Jaguar 37; F Massa (Br) Sauber-Petronas 37; K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 35; J Trulli (It) Renault 35; A Davidson (GB) Minardi-Asiatech 17; J Button (GB) Renault 10; M Webber (Aus) Minardi-Asiatech 4.

Fastest lap: M Schumacher 1:47.176, lap 15.

Constructors' championship: 1 Ferrari 173pts; 2 Williams-BMW 86; 3 McLaren-Mercedes 57; 4 Renault 15; 5 Sauber-Petronas 11; 6 Jordan-Honda 7; 7 BAR-Honda 5; 8 Jaguar 4; 9 Minardi 2; 10 Toyota 2; 11 Arrows 2.