But the one he chose was much stiffer than he has ever imagined. He could have gone to any team he wanted. Had he chosen Williams, the dominant team in the mid-1990s, or McLaren, which was to become so from 1998 when the former Williams chief designer Adrian Newey joined it, who knows how many races and championships Schumacher would have won by now.

But where, his manager Willi Weber has said, is the thrill and sense of achievement in the best driver winning in the best car? Instead Schumacher chose the leading team that appeared to be furthest away from the championship - Ferrari. He was doubtless tempted by the huge salary that Ferrari's owner Fiat dangled under his nose - an annual fee of US$25 million made him the highest paid driver in history - but that was not the main reason for his decision.

Far more importantly, he was after the cachet that winning the title with Ferrari would bring to him. Schumacher is breathtakingly unaware of the history and heritage of F1, but even he could not fail to notice that this legendary team had not won a driver's title since 1979. It was the biggest story in sports. Schumacher wanted to be the man to break that duck. That way, he reasoned, he would be hailed as the man who turned Ferrari around. For the first time since Marque first raced in 1948, a driver would be bigger than the biggest name in the sport.

He knew that he would not be champion in 1996, the first year of his time at Ferrari, he suspected he might be in 1997, and he was all-but certain he would be in 1998. But each time, and last year as well, Ferrari fell short of the mark. Some commentators have allowed his history of failure with Ferrari to blind themselves to Schmacher's qaulities as a driver. He has branded a cheat, a man who is prepared to deliver F1 equivalent of a punch below the belt, if it gets him where and what he wants.

Both his Benetton and Ferrari teams have been similarly fingered by speculation, never proven, that they sail too close to the line for comfort. But nearly everyone in F1 nevertheless agrees that he is the best driver in the world. Even now, after three years of honing the team that was set up around him, with the technicians he chose to bring from Benetton, Ferrari's car is not quite a match for the McLaren, just as it was not in 1999, 1998, or the Williams in 1997. But this year it has been close nough for Schumacher to make the difference he could not quite manage before.

Let's have a look at this man in the race at Suzuka. At first it didn't look to be going for Schumacher's way at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix. "I got oo much wheel spin off the line. I moved over to try and defend my position, but Mika was already there and I had to let him go," said Michael, explaining how he went from pole position to second place going into the first corner at Suzuka.

From that point onwards, it was simply a two-horse race for the win and the 2000 World Championship title, as Schumacher shadowed his rival for the next 21 laps, the pair of them leaving their team mates a distant third and fourth by the end of the race Michael took the lead briefly as Mika made the first of the two fuel and tyre stops, but the order returned after Ferrari pitted two laps later.

It was a high speed procession, a consistent gap between them, which did not look like changing. The championship duel got more exciting just after half distance, when the threatening leaden clouds shed some rain. Not enough to send the cars rushing to the pits for wet weather tyres, but just enough to make the conditions very difficult, especially for the two lead drivers still battling only a couple of seconds apart.

Hakkinen held his lead, but made his second scheduled stop on lap37 as the pair came up to lap traffic. Schumacher opted to stay out, in a bid to make up enough time on his lighter fuel load to put him ahead of the McLaren when he made his own stop, three laps later. That decision turned the race in Michael's favour and ultimately settled the issue.

"I knew it would be two crucial laps when Mika went into the pits. I had some traffic to pass which wasn't easy and then a Benetton spun infront of me at the chicane just as I was coming into the pits. For a moment, I wasn't sure where he was going and had to slow down and as I came into the the pits I did not think I had enough of a cushion to take the lead for the final run to the flag," said Michael. But a rapid six second stop performed by the Ferrari crew ensured that he was heading back into the lead as he left the pit lane for the final time. "Ross Brawn was on the radio saying, looking good, looking good, as he watched Hakkinen. I was waiting for him to say looking bad, and as I went onto the track he said, looking bloody good, and I knew I had the lead. It was the most amazing moment of my racing career,"said Schumacher.

At the end of the next lap, with the track now very slippery, he had a 4.5 second lead over Hakkinen, and barring any mistakes or mechanical failures, appeared to have the race and 2000 title in the bag.

Hakkinen's chances of keeping his lead had dwindled after his pit stop. "I knew it would be tight. After my stop I got caught up in the traffic, but with a shinny new tyres and more rain I had no grip and the car was sliding all over the place. After Michael came out ahead all I could do was try to keep up. The last laps I was pushing really hard, over the limit. I got close but not close enough,"added Mika, who took the flag just 1.8 seconds down at the flag.

After the dissappointments of coming so close and not succeeding since taking his first two World Championship victories in 1994 and 1995, his third titel was a very special one for the German. Especially so as it is for Ferrari which has not crowned a World Champion since Jody Scheckter won the title in 1979. " It is very special to do it with Ferrari - a team with so much history," said Michael. "It is difficult to find the words how it feels. It is similar to Monza, but don't expect me to cry. I felt an outbreak of emotion as I crossed the line. The coditions were very difficult today and the season has had its ups and downs. It was great to finish with a win after a fight all the way to the last corner, thanks to Mika. We have been working for this for five years and three times we got so close. It feels fantastic," Michael concluded. The Drivers Championship is settled and the result gives Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro a 13-point lead over the Mclaren and on course to retain the Constructors Championship in the final race in Malaysia. Time and again through his career, Schmacher has demonstrated his genius: in the wet where he is peerless; overa race distance, where no one else can match his consistency in driving so fast for so long; and in less high-profile situations, like his first lap in a practice session, where no other driver can get so close to the limit of a car on his first flying lap.

You can love Schumacher or loathe him - and many do. You can question his morals and his methods. But you cannot deny him his position as one of the greatest racing drivers the world has ever seen. Now, after his long overdue tird world title, the burden of pressure and expectation that has hung around him since he joined Ferrari five years ago has lifted and the world is at Schumacher's feet.

He is nine victories away from breaking Alain Prost's record of winning more Grands Prix than anyone else. Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five world title is also perhaps within his grasp. Schumacher has always claimed that statistics do not mean anything to him, that winning the title with Ferrari is what matters. This, though, is only patly true. "I've been discussing statistic with Michael," Prost says,"I know he is interested in leaving some record behind. But when you are racing, statistics are not something you think about and they are not something which can motivate you."

What will motivate Schmacher from now on, he has not yet revealed, although his response to a recent question along those lines - "There are always new things to keep you motivated" - suggests he already knows what it is. Perhaps it is another title with Ferrari. Maybe he wants to smash those records. At just 31, he certainly has the time, if he can find the commitment. Perhaps, though, after seeing out his contract to end of 2002, he will retire to a quiet life with his beloved family and dogs. After winning the 2000F1 World Championship for Ferrari, his place in history is secured.

The belief that he could succeed where so many others have failed and end a barren period that lasted 21 years, has proven right. The outbreak and the struggles, the years that seemed like they might be lost, were worth it afterall.