Michael Schumacher admits he could not pick a more perfect circuit to win his seventh world championship than Spa-Francorchamps, the venue for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
Schumacher can clinch the title with victory on Sunday, although the championship will also be guaranteed as long as he scores two more points than his only challenger, Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
Spa has been the scene of some of Schumacher's most memorable moments in Formula One from the moment he lied to team boss Eddie Jordan to clinch his grand prix debut.
Schumacher, then a star of sportscar racing, claimed to have driven previously at Spa to convince Jordan to put him in a Formula One car.
The trick worked and Schumacher qualified a stunning seventh place, setting him on the road to rewriting Formula One's record books.
Spa is also renowned as one of the most testing tracks in the world and Schumacher cannot wait to race there again after a one-year absence from the calendar.
He told his personal website, www.michael-schumacher.de : "Spa is a track on which racing is especially pleasing. For me this track has simply a special magic.
"Firstly because I have had so many emotional moments there, things like my first grand prix and my first Formula One win.
"Secondly, because the track lies so close to my home town of Kerpen I always say I regard Spa as another home race.
"Thirdly because the track is simply a sporting challenge, incredibly crazy and so integrated into nature. Spa is simply my favourite track."
Schumacher's inevitable title triumph - whether it comes at Spa or later in the season - has come courtesy of an unprecedented run of form. The German has won 12 of 13 races so far this season but puts much of that dominance down to his Ferrari car.
He is particularly keen to put Ferrari's 2004 car to work around the testing 4.3-mile set deep in the Ardennes forest.
He added: "Another further factor comes into it this year - our car. Up to now it has showed no weakness on any track. To have such a car on a track like Spa, that can only be enjoyable.
"Naturally I hope again for the support of my many fans who come in great numbers to Belgium. I am determined to give them a good result and a reason to celebrate."
Such has been Schumacher's superiority this season, most of his rivals are unable to offer much hope of a change in fortunes.
Juan Pablo Montoya has pinned his hopes of Spa's notoriously fickle weather. The Williams driver hopes a first wet race of 2004 can turn the tables on Schumacher and give another driver the chance to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time since Jarno Trulli did at Monaco in May.
Montoya said: "We haven't had much wet running during grand prix weekends this season, but if there's a circuit where this could turn around, it's definitely Spa and rain will be little help to us.
"Our new aero package proved successful in Hungary, so we are now looking forward to going well in Belgium.
"It's great to have the Belgian Grand Prix back on the calendar. I regard it as one of my favourite tracks, fast, challenging and very demanding on the drivers, so it will be good to race again there."