Motorsport: Flawed genius who just loves to drive

After 246 races, 90 victories, 66 pole positions, 75 fastest laps and seven world championships, what will we finally make of Michael Schumacher?

How will his sport remember a man who was at the same time one of its most gifted practitioners and yet also one of its most controversial?

Perhaps motor racing chief Bernie Ecclestone summarised it best when he suggested that every time anyone mentions Schumacher, they think of Formula One. The two became synonymous, and his retirement at the end of this season will inevitably leave a void until the next big character emerges.

He has been one of motor racing's greatest stars. A man of his time who fought in a manner that has come to be acceptable to the majority if not always to the purists who remember that the other giants of the game - Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve and Alain Prost - had no need to make contact with their rivals, nor did they make as many mistakes as he appeared to.

Schumacher was most like the late Ayrton Senna, who, for all his fabulous talents, is also remembered as the man who made the professional foul kosher, at least as far the sport's management was concerned.

And that in itself was deeply ironic, for it was Schumacher, in Brazil in 1993, who ranted plaintively in the post-race press conference as he accused Senna of adopting "unacceptable" tactics to keep him behind. He was a fast learner.

Like Senna, Schumacher had many faces. To those he worked with, he was a genius obsessed with every aspect of his vehicle's technology, a man of unquenchable competitive fire who hated to lose and loved racing for racing's sake.

He was the man whose fantastic ability and intense focus helped Ferrari back from their wilderness years, and who, in 2000, finally became their first world champion since South African Jody Scheckter back in 1979.

Had he not broken his leg at Silverstone in 1999, he would probably already have been champion eight times. He is the man for whom everyone at Maranello would have journeyed to hell and back.

Ferrari's domination in recent years owes so much to Schumacher's other-worldly blend of driving brilliance, the design and technical management skills of Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn, and the ability of the sporting director Jean Todt. Todt, unsurprisingly, has always been unstinting in his praise for his driver, for he has been the man best placed to appreciate his true contribution.

"Michael has been the author of a unique chapter in the history of Formula One and of Ferrari in particular," he said.

"He is an exceptional man and will become a legend as a driver.

"Humanly, he is a great guy. He's very mature, he loved driving, so for us it was fantastic to have him. He is very curious; he wants to know. He wants to understand everything."

To his rivals - particularly men such as the 1996 champion Damon Hill - Schumacher was a different man, one who would intimidate without second thought, and who wanted to win at any cost.

Hill discovered that when Schumacher turfed him off the road in Adelaide in 1994, to steal his first crown.

In Monaco this year there was the embarrassment of his stupid effort to frustrate rival Fernando Alonso by wilfully parking his Ferrari at Rascasse.

Such manoeuvres generated the controversy that surrounded Schumacher throughout his career.

Like Senna, Schumacher was flawed - but he will be still be remembered as a genius.

- INDEPENDENT