Schumacher won his third World Championship in 2000 after a year-long battle with H kkinen. Schumacher won the first three races of the season and five of the first eight. Mid-way through the year, Schumacher’s chances suffered with three consecutive non-finishes, allowing H kkinen to close the gap in the standings. H kkinen then took another two victories, before Schumacher won at the Italian Grand Prix. At the post race press conference, after equaling the number of wins 41 won by his idol, Ayrton Senna, Schumacher broke into tears. The championship fight would come down to the penultimate race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Schumacher had the early lead, but soon lost it to H kkinen. After his second pit-stop, however, Schumacher came out ahead of H kkinen and went on to win the race and the championship. In 2001, Schumacher took his fourth drivers title. Four other drivers won races, but none sustained a season-long challenge for the championship. Schumacher scored a record-tying nine wins and clinched the world championship with four races yet to run. He finished the championship with 123 points, 58 ahead of runner-up Coulthard. Season highlights included the Canadian Grand Prix, where Schumacher finished 2nd to his brother Ralf, thus scoring the first ever 1-2 finish by brothers in Formula One; and the Belgian Grand Prix in which Schumacher scored his 52nd career win, breaking Alain Prost’s record for most career wins. In 2002, Schumacher used the Ferrari F2002, widely considered to be one of the most dominant racing cars in Formula One, to retain his Drivers Championship. At the Austrian Grand Prix his teammate, Rubens Barrichello was leading but in the final meters of the race, under orders, slowed to allow Schumacher to win the race. In winning the Drivers Championship he equaled the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio of five world championships. Ferrari won 15 out of 17 races, and Schumacher won the title with six races remaining in the season. Schumacher broke his own record, shared with Nigel Mansell, of nine race wins in a season, by winning eleven times and finishing every race on the podium. He finished with 144 points, a record-breaking 67 points ahead of the runner-up, his teammate Rubens Barrichello. This pair finished 9 of the 17 races in the first two places. Schumacher broke Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of five World Drivers Championships by winning the drivers title for the sixth time in 2003, a closely contested season. The biggest competition came once again from the McLaren Mercedes and Williams BMW teams. In the first race, Schumacher ran off track, and in the following two, was involved in collisions. He fell 16 points behind Kimi R ikk nen. Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix and the next two races, and closed within two points of R ikk nen. Aside from Schumacher’s victory in Canada, and Barrichello’s victory in Britain, the mid-season was dominated by Williams’s drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, who each claimed two victories. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi R ikk nen by only one and two points, respectively. Ahead of the next race, the FIA announced changes to the way tyre widths were to be measured: this forced Michelin, supplier to Williams and McLaren among others, to rapidly redesign their tyres before the Italian Grand Prix. Schumacher, running on Bridgestone tyres, won the next two races. After Montoya was penalised in the United States Grand Prix, only Schumacher and R ikk nen remained in contention for the title. At the final round, the Japanese Grand Prix, Schumacher needed only one point whilst R ikk nen needed to win. By finishing the race in eighth place, Schumacher took one point and assured his sixth World Drivers title, ending the season two points ahead of R ikk nen. In 2004, Schumacher won a record twelve of the first thirteen races of the season, only failing to finish in Monaco after an accident with Juan Pablo Montoya during a safety car period when he briefly locked his car’s brakes. He clinched a record seventh drivers title at the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished that season with a record 148 points, 34 points ahead of the runner-up, teammate Rubens Barrichello, and set a new record of 13 race wins out of a possible 18, surpassing his previous best of 11 wins from the 2002 season.
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