LONDON, 30 December 2003 — The joy of six could be just a step on the way to seventh heaven for Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher.
The German, who had to wait until the last race of the season to replace the five stars on his cap with six gold stripes, will be aiming for a seventh Formula One title in 2004 after making history the hard way.
The first driver to win six championships, overtaking the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in the record books, is not done yet.
If the races in 2004 are anything like this year’s, the battle promises to be a thriller.
Fans who fell asleep or switched off in 2002, bored by endless Ferrari processions, stayed on the edge of their seats as Formula One ripped up the rule book and emerged reborn.
Even if the end result was familiar, the revamped qualifying and scoring systems produced new winners and the closest championship in years.
Schumacher, now with a record 70 wins, celebrated a fourth title in a row while the Ferrari dream team notched up an unprecedented fifth successive constructors’ crown.
But the road to victory was far from smooth, both Ferrari and Schumacher making mistakes under pressure in a year that also highlighted their extraordinary resilience. Imola in April saw Schumacher at his most vulnerable as well as most determined. Rushing with brother Ralf from final qualifying at the San Marino Grand Prix to his mother’s hospital bedside in Germany, he returned to take a tearful first win of the year at Ferrari’s home track just hours after her death. He went on to win the next two races as well. It was to be a tough year and the writing was on the wall from the start in Australia, when there was no Ferrari driver on the podium for the first time since 1999.
Instead, Schumacher nursed his damaged car home in fourth place to end a record run of 19 top-three finishes in succession.
Malaysia and Brazil, the next two races, offered more disappointment. At Sepang, Schumacher was sixth as McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, who would remain a title rival all the way to Japan, took a first win.
At Interlagos, Schumacher skidded off in a deluge. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella won there but it took him another five days to be sure of victory in his 110th race after a timing error saw Raikkonen take the top step of the podium.
Spain’s Fernando Alonso was another, lapping Schumacher to finish first in Hungary for Renault and become — at 22 years old — the youngest Formula One winner.
