F1's greatest record has only been broken four times in the history of the world championship, by three drivers, including Michael Schumacher, who has done it twice.
Since 1955, the record for the most world championship titles has only been broken twice, and both times by Schumacher as he eclipsed Juan Manuel Fangio's tally of five titles, and then, on this day in 2004, he broke his own record.
In claiming his seventh world drivers' title at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher set the ultimate F1 record, one that remains unbeaten to this day.
But in claiming his seventh star, Schumacher did so after 'only' taking second place at Spa.
The 2004 season was one of the most dominant by a single driver in history, with the six-time champion claiming 13 wins from the 18 races to move from a sextuple to a septuple champion.
The Belgian GP was the 14th race of the 2004 season, and Schumacher had won 12 of the previous 13.
He had won the opening five races of the campaign between Australia and Spain and then after Monaco, the next seven on the trot between the European GP and Hungary.
Schumacher failed to win 13 races in succession after crashing out of the Monaco GP after clashing with Juan Pablo Montoya under the safety car in the tunnel.
At Spa, Schumacher headed into the race, where he had made his debut 13 years prior, and taken his first win 12 years earlier 38 points ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with four rounds remaining after the weekend.
In the days of the top eight scoring points in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system, Barrichello required a victory, with Schumacher only needing to be seventh or higher to claim the title for the fifth year in a row.
Barrichello's sixth on the grid all but ended his challenge there and then as Jarno Trulli took pole from Schumacher, with Kimi Raikkonen down in 10th.
The Finn would roar to his first victory of the season in a poor year for McLaren, finishing 3.132s ahead of Schumacher in second.
Game. Set. Match. Championship.
Below, in the table, take a look at the times the world championship record has been broken in F1.
Times the F1 world championship record has been broken
| Year | Driver gaining record | Driver losing record | Number of titles won |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Alberto Ascari | Giuseppe Farina | 2 |
| 1955 | Juan Manuel Fangio | Alberto Ascari | 3 |
| 2003 | Michael Schumacher | Juan Manuel Fangio | 6 |
| 2004 | Michael Schumacher | Michael Schumacher | 7 |
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