Schumacher looks like champion

By Jonathan Legard BBC motor racing correspondent

What a difference a year makes in the Schumacher family.

Twelve months ago at Imola Michael was the first to congratulate Ralf on his maiden Grand Prix triumph.

Michael had been reduced to the role of reluctant spectator when his Ferrari failed him after 24 laps and he watched his brother claim victory with imperious ease.

Fast forward to Imola 2002 and the smiles are all big brother's. Ralf might have been standing by a coffin, such was his dejection at third place on the podium.

Rubens Barrichello's performance will have put fear into the hearts of Ferrari's rivals

"The team did a good job," Ralf said. "But certainly after today our car is not good enough if we want to win in the future."

This from the driver who won the season's second race at Malaysia, ahead of his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, and who had finished second in Brazil a fortnight ago.

The result in Brazil, however, had sent a warning to Williams.

They were not expecting Ferrari to be so competitive and they reckoned they needed to get it right at Imola.

"It is vital that we are competitive," Williams' chief operations engineer, Sam Michael, had said in the build-up.

"Over the next three or four races there are tracks where we might not be as competitive as Ferrari and if they start winning those, then you can see the championship slipping away," he went on.

Worried

"It's going to be very difficult but we know what we have to do."

Even more so now.

It was not merely the sight of Michael Schumacher running away in the sunshine that must have worried them.

Williams' experienced head, technical director Patrick Head, readily acknowledges him as the outstanding driver of his generation.

No, what will have doubled the impact was the performance of Schumacher's running mate, Rubens Barrichello, charging into the distance after the first round of pit stops.

Coulthard's season has started disastrously

Remember that this was the first time out for both new F2002 Ferraris - and neither missed a beat.

Wet or dry, hot or cold, both ran like clockwork.

Just like the debut of the car at Brazil when Michael Schumacher defied the odds to hold off the Williams-BMW for that surprise win.

Sam Michael may well have seen the future - and currently it does not look blue and white.

The next race in two weeks is in Barcelona.

Usually a McLaren stronghold, the Circuit de Catalunya will hold out little hope to David Coulthard who said his car was "a mile off the pace, yet I drove it as hard as possible".

'Too slow'

The briefest of glimpses at the championship standings will confirm his worst fears.

Schumacher has 34 points. He has five. After just four races. So much for a world title tilt in the absence of Mika Hakkinen.

Mercedes' head of motorsport, Norbert Haug, was blunt and to the point in his post-race assessment.

"The weekend's results show our current performance level. We are too slow," he said.

Schumacher certainly was not that in Spain last year. He started from pole and won - because McLaren's unreliability crushed Hakkinen on the last lap.

Fifth title looming

The A1-Ring in May should favour Williams with their powerful BMW engine but at Monaco there is nobody to touch Michael Schumacher.

As if he needed extra inspiration, he will equal Ayrton Senna's record of six Monaco crowns if he wins. He has won there five times already.

Contrast that to Williams' dismal record in the principality: two victories in 25 years, the last in 1983.

The Canadian Grand Prix is usually kinder to the Grove team.

But by mid-season, after the Nurburgring and Silverstone, Schumacher could need to brush up on his Spanish - it may be needed to prepare a letter of appreciation to the Fangio family as he equals the great Juan Manuel's haul of five world titles.

Ferrari's chief designer, Rory Byrne, did say his cars still have some problems to iron out.

Really? What happens when they're all pressed out? And how does that make McLaren boss Ron Dennis - let alone Eddie Jordan and Jaguar's Niki Lauda feel?

Forget some tea and sympathy, the hard work starts now.

Otherwise Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber can start producing his World Champion 2002 merchandise in his summer catalogue.