Michael Schumacher has achieved this year his aim of becoming only the second man in history to win five world titles and three in a row.

Having put himself on level terms with the great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, there are no signs of a let up from the German just yet.

Schumacher seems set on relentlessly continuing his domination of the sport, and once can only wonder where he will leave a set of records that will probably never be broken.

In the cockpit, there is no one to match Schumacher. He has a metronomic capacity for pounding out laps at the limit in a race.

His driving in the wet is peerless. And in mixed conditions, on dry tyres on a damp road, he is quite simply sensational.

The only real question mark is over his tactics, which have not endeared him to his colleagues.

Schumacher has demonstrated a ruthlessness on the track which often sees him on the end of swingeing criticism from his fellow drivers - although such was Ferrari's superiority that he did not need to employ it this season.

He shows little sign of mellowing with age, correctly reasoning that if his rivals find it impossible to predict what he will do, then he is already halfway to winning the battle.

What he will do if and when he breaks all those records is anyone's guess.

But as he says that he is not motivated by numbers, only success, it is likely that his desire will continue undimmed for some time yet.

Pity the rest, then.