Schumi has too much to do to even catch up with Alonso

MUMBAI: Never mind Michael Schumacher’s back-to-back wins in Indianapolis and Magny-Cours. Championship leader Fernando Alonso has his tail wings well and truly covered.

With seven races to go, the Spaniard leads the German by 17 points. Should Schumacher, using a significant stretch of imagination, win all the remaining races, even that would not be good enough for the Ferrari ace to clinch the title.

Yup, the reversal of fortune hasn’t come soon enough for the seven-time champion.

The current world champion can be content just trailing Schumacher for the rest of the season. In fact, the Spaniard can even afford to come third once, such is his championship lead at this point.

The hard work will have to be done by the German.

To cover the point difference, not only does Schumacher have to stay in top gear till the chequered flag at Interlagos, Brazil (the last Grand Prix of the season), he also has to hope that Renault lose the consistency that has seen Alonso on the podium in 10 of the 11 races so far (of which six times was on the top step).

Schumacher has made the podium on eight occasions — four as the winner, and four as runner-up.

It’s interesting that neither has come third in the season so far — a position where Schumacher would like to see his young rival more often over the next few weeks, for the German to make a claim for his eight title.