AUGUST 27, 2001

Wonderful, beautiful, fantastic... and still four races to go

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER has revealed that it wasn't until he got off his bicycle during fitness training on Tuesday that he realized what he had done. After his victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix, Schumacher went first to the timing screens to see exactly where the race was won and lost before taking the applause from the podium.

Thereafter was a hectic whirl of media, sponsor and team appointments until he was working out in Parma and thought about what he had achieved. "I was off on my bike for my daily workout, I let the race and the presentation ceremony and all of the experiences in Budapest pass in review," he said. "and I have to say it was a wonderful day, quite fantastic in retrospect.

The newly-minted world championship was celebrated in Hungary's Hotel Kampinski until the wee small hours, and as a result a slightly secondhand Schumacher - who can attack the schnapps and cigar box with the best of them - almost forgot his passport on the way out. After that it was off to Maranello, via Parma, and then home with his family to Switzerland before returning to the cockpit Thursday at Mugello.

"It's exactly what one does after a strenuous weekend and a long night out," he said. "We mainly spent time with the children rather than bothering much about the race. We played around in the garden and, to be honest, went to bed quite early."