Wednesday July 11th, 2001

Michael Schumacher has already broken a betting record before he attempts to equal Alain Prost's milestone tally of 51 Formula One wins at Sunday's British Grand Prix.

Bookmakers William Hill said on Wednesday that their odds of 50-1 ON for the German to win a fourth title this season were the shortest they had ever offered at this stage of a Formula One Championship. Rivals Ladbrokes quoted the same price.

Schumacher has a 31 point lead over McLaren's David Coulthard with seven races remaining and has won six times out of 10 so far in 2001. Schumacher is also the race favourite for Silverstone, with bookmakers not convinced that Coulthard can beat either Michael or Ralf Schumacher to win his home race for the third successive year.

Michael was quoted at evens to win and 8-11 to secure his eighth pole position in 11 races. Williams driver Ralf was 11-4 with Coulthard third favourite at 4-1. Ladbrokes quoted Britain's other two drivers, Jenson Button in the Benetton and Eddie Irvine with Jaguar, at 300-1 and 125-1 respectively to win on Sunday. Hill's were more cautious on Irvine, offering 80-1.

Published at 21:49:46 GMT

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