Schumacher goes back to work in winning style

"Wait until Malaysia, that will be the true indicator of the season." That was the message from Michael Schumacher, and it was ironic that the man who had dominated yet another grand prix was the one holding out some desperately needed hope to everyone else after Ferrari had once again destroyed their opposition here in Australia yesterday.

Schumacher led throughout, never even losing the lead during his three pit stops, and scored his 71st grand prix triumph and his fourth Down Under. And even though his team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, was forced to drop back with overheating brakes, nobody came close to challenging him for second place.

"A perfect race but a tough one in the early stages, when Rubens was pushing me hard," Schumacher beamed. "That made it exciting and I could not afford to make a mistake. It's great to leave Australia with two more points than I had after the first three races last year."

The new two-hour qualifying format had evoked almost universal criticism, to the point where nobody accepts responsibility for introducing it, but the race was even worse as the two Ferraris disappeared into the distance. Barrichello bravely tried to make a race of it, staying within striking distance of Schumacher until the Brazilian made his first refuelling stop on lap 11. Schumacher followed suit a lap later, and by lap 18 they were only 0.9 seconds apart. But then Schumacher gradually opened the margin up again, and when Barrichello ran into brake trouble the issue was settled.

"I kept pushing Michael hard," the Brazilian said, "and closed up when he got delayed in traffic. But by then I started having brake problems and a very long pedal, so I backed off." It was nevertheless a performance reminiscent of 2002, when the combination of Schumacher, Barrichello, Ferrari and Bridgestone left rivals reeling. And Schumacher's and Barrichello's fastest laps bettered their qualifying times by three-tenths of a second. Impressive.

The closest anyone got to them was Fernando Alonso, who finished third 34.673sec adrift of Schumacher in his Michelin-shod Renault. While that might not look impressive on paper, it was actually another fine performance by the young Spaniard. He blasted off the line with such panache that Schumacher later joked that he still had the now-banned launch control that made the Renaults such jackrabbits last year, and comfortably won an outbraking duel going into the first corner with Juan Pablo Montoya.

"After Montoya outbraked himself at the first corner I found myself third and from then on it was a pretty easy race," Alonso said. "I was too slow to be able to fight with the Ferraris, but I managed to pull out a gap to Jenson and the Williams. Our objective for this race was to start scoring points before the start of the European season; to take a podium is everything we could have hoped for." It was indeed, for though Renault had been expected to be the dark horse few had quite envisaged them beating Williams.

Yet again Montoya's machismo got the better of his judgement as he refused to yield to the inevitable in the first corner, braked 20 metres too late and sailed into the kitty litter on the outside of the corner. While Alonso sped home to an easy six points, Montoya once again blew the opening race and spent the rest of his afternoon playing catch up for a haul of only four for his eventual fifth place. A problem with his right rear wheel during his final pit stop did not help, either. Only the brave felt like approaching the Williams technical director, Patrick Head, after that, especially as his other fancied runner, Ralf Schumacher, was only fourth, eight seconds further up the road.

"We got a roasting," a team insider admitted. "But it was all about tyres today. It was just like 2002. Ferrari and Bridgestone did the same thing then, and then we went to Malaysia and finished first and second for Michelin. I think it was mainly a case of Bridgestone providing a more suitable tyre this weekend."

Sixth place was a reasonable start for BAR-Honda and Jenson Button, but it counted as a disappointment after the Englishman had set a genuine joint third fastest time in qualifying that matched Montoya. He ran strongly in the race, too, fending off Ralf Schumacher for fourth place and losing out to the German only during the second pit stops when there was a problem with a refuelling nozzle. "It's the first time I've finished in the points in Australia," Button said. "I think we need a little more in the way of race pace but it's a solid start to the season. It's tough but at least we were up there with the competition throughout."

BAR were happy to leave Australia with points, but McLaren should have been feeling suicidal. They lost Kimi Raikkonen after only 10 laps, during which he had battled with and been beaten by Felipe Massa's Sauber-Petronas, and then were forced to watch David Coulthard bring his MP4/19 home a lapped eighth for the final point, a place behind Jarno Trulli's Renault. "It has been an unsatisfying weekend for us," said last year's winner, "and the one point we achieved today is a very small consolation."

So was it all down to tyres, or were Michelin's runners indulging in wishful thinking? Time will tell, hopefully soon. Schumacher himself was at pains to prevent too many people drawing premature conclusions, advising everyone to wait and see what happens in Malaysia.

"I am keeping my feet on the ground, because this race and the weather conditions suited us perhaps better than the others. We will have to wait and see what happens in Malaysia where it will be much hotter. I do not want to predict the season based on just one race." For Formula One's sake, one hopes that Michelin will strike back. The current status quo might suit Ferrari, but the last thing anyone else needs, from the other teams to the sport's fans, is another red steamroller year like 2002.

RESULTS FROM MELBOURNE

1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 24min 15.757sec (average speed 219.010 kph)

2 R Barrichello (Br) Ferrari 1.24:29.362

3 F Alonso (Sp) Renault 1:24:50.430

4 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:25:16.180

5 J P Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 1:25:24.293

6 J Button (GB) BAR-Honda 1:25:26.355

7 J Trulli (It) Renault 1 lap behind

8 D Coulthard (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1 lap

9 T Sato (Japan) BAR-Honda 1 lap

10 G Fisichella (It) Sauber-Petronas 1 lap

11 C Klien (Aut) Jaguar 2 laps

12 C Da Matta (Br) Toyota 2 laps

13 O Panis (Fr) Toyota 2 laps

14 G Pantano (It) Jordan-Cosworth 3 laps

Not classified:

F Massa (Br) Sauber-Petronas 44 laps completed; N Heidfeld (Ger) Jordan-Cosworth 43 laps; G Bruni (It) Minardi-Cosworth 43; M Webber (Aus) Jaguar 29; Z Baumgartner (Hun) Minardi-Cosworth 13; K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 9.

Fastest lap: M Schumacher, 1:24.125, lap 29.

WORLD DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 M Schumacher 10pts
2 Barrichello 8
3 Alonso 6
4 R Schumacher 5
5 Montoya 4
6 Button 3
7 Trulli 2
8 Coulthard 1

Manufacturers' Championship

1 Ferrari 18pts; 2 Williams-BMW 9; 3 Renault 8; 4 BAR-Honda 3; 5 McLaren Mercedes 1.