When was Shumi at his best?

[Mark]

I reckon rebuilding Ferrari era. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have been WDC in 1999 if he hadn't broken his leg.

I think there is pretty much no doubt about that. Considering Irvine ran Hakkinen to the title down to the final race at Suzuka. MS had way more points than Irvine before Silverstone, so I don't see any scenario where MS wouldn't have been champion in 1999.

However the only difference it would have made is that Hakkinen would have only won one championship and Schumacher eight.

As to the question, I think the stregth of Schumacher is that he didn't have a good or bad time, I'd say the entire time from 1995 to 2004 he was at the absolute top of his game.

Up to and including 1994 he was still a youngster, a bit where Hamilton is now, and after 2004 I think after getting a kicking from Alonso he'd grown tired of Formula 1.