Inside Line: Schumi and Lewis eighth title woes

In 2005, after five years of solid dominance by Schumacher and Ferrari, adding to his five straight titles with the great Italian teams (he already had two from his Benetton days) seemed a mere formality heading into that season.

A year earlier, in 2004, never had a driver been so dominant as Schumi was winning the first five races on the trot and adding another eight victories in that 18 round year. Utter dominance.

But the next season the fall of Ferrari was dramatic, he won only a single race in the year Fernando Alonso ended Schumacher's incredible reign. The Spaniard, 23 at the time, was the fly in the ointment as Renault, resurrected under Flavio Briatore, became a potent force and winning the title in 2006 again.

So where are the similarities to Hamilton's quest for eight?

Alonso is the Verstappen of the time. He came in, a Young Gun intent on taking the crown from the greatest driver (statistically) of all time and did so. In the end, convincing Ferrari that Schumi was past his Sell-By date was probably his greatest victory.

The Mercedes driver faces Verstappen energised by a competitive Honda-powered Red Bull package, denied him until this season. Also a Young Gun intent on securing his first title at all costs and thus preventing Hamilton from usurping Schumacher for that final record. Currently, they are tied on seven.

Where the differences lie are in how tight this one is and that Schumacher's only victory came in the USA, nine races into the year, In stark contrast, Hamilton has been on it since the first day of this season.

Also, there was no pendulum swinging in the pecking order then, as there has been in the current contest.

However, the stakes are very similar in that an eighth title then for Schumi or Lewis now would be record-setting, whereas for Alonso, in 2005, his first F1 world title was up for grabs as it is now for Verstappen.

In retrospect, it is fair to say that Alonso's two back-to-back F1 world titles were more than that.

They also marked the end of the great Schumacher-Ferrari era, as the German quit the sport for the first time at the end of 2006, a season in which he finished second to the Spaniard again, but went out with seven victories in his final year at Maranello.

As it stands now, the Hamilton-Mercedes era is under threat from Verstappen's led Red Bull; if history is to repeat itself then Lewis would lose this one to Max and quit at the end of next year leaving it to the Dutchman to begin his crusade for eight. Time will tell.