But despite scoring a record 52nd career victory in yesterday’s incident-packed Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher is in no mood to ease off in the remaining three races.

The four-time champion needs to win two of them to become the first driver in history to hit double figures in a season and break the record of nine he shares with Nigel Mansell.

‘‘When we won the championship, people kept saying now we would take it easy, but we have kept winning,’’ said Schumacher after putting the smile back on the face of his fellow Germans following their 5-1 World Cup drubbing by England.

‘‘I am here to enjoy myself and put the car on the limit and do the best job I can. Now we go to Monza where we will have reason to celebrate at home whatever the result.

‘‘But we want to do well there, which I think might be more difficult as the opposition will have a strong package for that type of track.’’

Schumacher meant the Williams-BMW duo of brother Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya, whose expected strong challenge at Spa-Francorchamps was thwarted by start-line glitches.

Pole sitter Montoya’s car stalled before the start of the original 44-lap race while mechanics were still working on Schumacher’s car when the reduced 36-lap got underway following the massive shunt suffered by Prost’s Luciano Burti.

The Swiss-based racer took advantage of his rivals’ problems to cruise to a fifth victory on the track - equalling Ayrton Senna’s record and celebrate the 10th anniversary of his F1 bow in Belgium in style.

"It does mean something to me to have 52 on my account," said Schumacher, who scored his maiden win in Belgium in 1992. ‘‘Doing it at Spa, which is so close to my home, is another satisfaction.

‘‘Spa and Monte Carlo are the traditional circuits which have a very high value to the pilots - at least in my view.

‘‘To win here is always something special and there are lots of memories I have collected in the last 10 years.’’

Schumacher won by 10 seconds from the McLaren of David Coulthard, who overcame the unexpectedly strong challenge of Benetton’s Giancarlo Fisichella.

Coulthard ended a miserable weekend by snatching second after overtaking Jordan-bound Fisichella nine laps from home to enhance his chances of finishing runner-up in the championship for the first time.

‘‘I am pleased that I have extended the points gap to Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher,’’ said the 30-year-old.

Coulthard now leads Barrichello, who was fifth for Ferrari, by nine points while Schumacher - who missed out on sixth place by a fraction is four points further back.

McLaren team-mate Mika Hakkinen was fourth while Jean Alesi marked only his second outing for Jordan with a much-needed point for the team with a rearguard action in the closing laps.