MOTOR SPORT/German Grand Prix: At the Circuito de Jerez, near the southernmost tip of Spain and pounded by a sun that feels like a ton of scalding bricks, seven Formula One teams are testing tyres, aerodynamics and electronic systems. Six of them are struggling to find an answer to the crushing dominance which has been exerted by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari throughout this season.

As Schumacher lines up the hairpin bend leading into the pit straight the scream of his Ferrari's V10 engine dissolves into a sequence of mysterious rasping and clattering noises as he drops through the gears. Then he's through the apex and gone in a blur of acceleration.

A technician from Williams-BMW, also watching and admiring, admits he simply cannot see where enough extra juice to thwart the crimson menace might come from. Depressing? Frankly, yes. But there's no point denying that Schumacher is at the top of his game as both driver and Ferrari's Mr Motivator.

"In 10 years, we'll probably look back on this period as one of the all-time great drivers in his prime," the technician suggests.

Later, Schumacher extends a firm handshake with a flash of his lopsided smile. While at a previous interview three years ago he radiated the same air of quiet certainty that he does today, he had seemed preoccupied with the immediate challenge of tweaking the traction control on his car.

In Jerez, as he hones his preparations for tomorrow's German grand prix, having won an unprecedented six drivers' championships and with a seventh virtually guaranteed, he seems to float in his own private space, far removed from the emotional outbursts or mechanical catastrophes that plagued him in the past.

He refuses to discuss his retirement or his statistical achievements, maybe because, at 35, he has a clearer vision than any observer about how much further he may go. After all, the great Juan Manuel Fangio raced until he was 47.

"I'm still young, honestly," Schumacher protests before considering whether Ferrari might be trying to lure any younger drivers to their Maranello lair. "I don't have to worry about that," he says, "and anyway it's not in my hands to choose my team-mate."

It does not occur to him that the question might refer to somebody replacing him.

"To me, (team-mate) Rubens Barrichello is doing a fantastic job. If you change you want to change for the better, and I'm not sure who is going to be better than him. There is the young generation of (Kimi) Raikkonen and (Fernando) Alonso, but I don't know how strong they would be and it needs probably some more time before they will be ready for the whole thing."

That means the biggest challenge in Formula One. Schumacher will equal his own record for number of races won in a season should he win the 11th of this year's 12 grands prix (in 2002 he set the record in 17 races) while Ferrari will seal their sixth straight constructors' title if the team score 13 points more than second-placed Renault.

He declines my invitation to measure himself against other leading sportsmen, whether Tiger Woods or Zinedine Zidane ("I leave that to the press") but a less assured competitor would have stayed with Benetton after the 1995 season to complete a hat-trick of championship victories. Schumacher, though, foresaw a greater challenge on a grander stage.

Ferrari, then the world's leading purveyor of political infighting and mechanical failures, battled through four difficult seasons before he won his third championship in 2000. It was Ferrari's first since Jody Scheckter in 1979. Schumi has won every year since.

"Yes, 1996 was tough in a way," he says, "and it was even tougher in '97 and '98 to lose the championship so closely. On the other hand it gave us a lot of strengths as a team which we probably still live on now. I think it's the same in life. If you go through a tough period in life and you get out of it, you feel stronger afterwards."

After winning at Monza in 2000, Schumacher uncharacteristically broke down in tears at the press conference. How come he had shown his human side on that occasion?

"I find the question a bit strange," he says. "It sounds as though I haven't been a human before or after. The problem is that I'm obviously not a person who likes to show too many emotions. I control myself as much as I can because there is too much that can be made out of it. I mean, I cry in front of the television when there's a good movie. It just happens. I am an emotional person to a degree. Monza was an emotional event and I obviously had a lot of memories of Ayrton Senna that day, and it just broke out."

Back home in the Swiss village of Vufflens-le-Chateauhe keeps his family life sacrosanct. Hello!-style features are out of the question, Corinna turns down all requests for photo-sessions while offspring Gina-Marie and Mick are inculcated with robust family values. They display only intermittent interest in their father's career.

"I'm sort of a normal family father when I'm home. I'm not the racing person and I'm just relaxed. Sometimes the kids ask a question which they get from their classmates at school, and you figure out where it's coming from. Many fathers come up to me and say: 'My kid's a great fan, can he have a signature?' But I can't say my kids are into any of that. They'll watch the start of a race and then go and play."

Do they say: "Oh no, daddy's winning again, we're not watching that?" Schumacher does not find this amusing. "No, that's not really the point. I think the point is that there are better things to do than sitting in front of the television."

This weekend, the German crowd will be urging him to improve his relatively poor record at Hockenheim (a paltry two wins). A German newspaper recently described Michael as "the last real German - honest, hardworking, courageous, disciplined."

"Those values are known as the German mentality and in a way that's quite true to say that I'm a German," he agrees, with no facetiousness. "I think the most important value to give your children is honesty. Give a clear idea on what is right and what is not right, how to behave, how to enjoy your life but know that life is not only enjoyment."