BARCELONA, Spain: The champions remained defiant, but there was
no ignoring a sensation that Formula One's jackals were circling
after Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
Defending drivers' world champion Michael Schumacher and his
Ferrari team chief Jean Todt roared back and bristled with
self-belief, but after failing to take a point on another
near-disastrous afternoon, the team of the prancing stallion had
lost much of its vim.
Kimi Raikkonen's victory was not only good for McLaren, it was also
a signal that the 'silver arrows' are on their way back in the
title race - and, with Renault and the new Spanish hero Fernando
Alonso in masterful form, the Red Baron's Ferrari era is
over.
Even Schumacher admitted as much after he had been forced to retire
after suffering two punctures while he was heading towards a
possible third place.
Asked if he could still fight to hang on to his champion's crown, a
title held by nobody else since 1999, the 36-year-old German
admitted it was slipping from his grasp.
"No question," he said.
"It is moving more and more away, but it is not that far away that
we have got to give it up, we will keep on working and keep on
fighting. It is not over.
"I don't need very long to find new motivation and new freshness.
We will work and work before the next race in Monaco. We are
becoming freer because we don't have anything to lose. We can do
more things."
Todt, who saw Schumacher experience defeat at Barcelona for the
first time since his old rival Mika Hakkinen won the third of his
three successive triumphs in 2000, was just as defiant.
"We knew this would be a difficult race, but it turned out to be
tougher than expected.
"We have to accept that in this first part of the season, our
opponents are stronger than us. But we will not get discouraged and
we will absolutely not give up.
"We will tackle the rest of this championship with the same will
and determination that has characterised our approach for so many
years."
The situation, in plain facts, now shows that Renault lead the
constructors' championship with 58 points ahead of Toyota on 40,
that McLaren are third on 37 and Williams fourth on 21.
Ferrari lie a distant fifth with 18 points, only four more than Red
Bull, a fledgling team built out of the remnants of the Jaguar
operation sold off by Ford last winter.
In the drivers' championship, Alonso leads with 44, Italian Jarno
Trulli is second with 26 and Raikkonen third on 17.
Schumacher, with 10 points, lies seventh and his team-mate
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello 11th with eight.
But Schumacher is nothing if not a fighter.
"I think that third position was realistic," he said.
"I would have been able to stay out quite a bit longer than Alonso,
but I don't think it would have been enough to make up those 11
seconds. But of course I would have tried.
"It is clear we are disappointed because in the race we were going
okay. It would have been six points. Six important points."
His problems with his left tyres remained a mystery.
"I had some problems on the lap before the first problem and I felt
the car getting unbalanced," explained the German.
"At first, I was lucky because it was just two laps before going
into the pits so I could go in and have the tyre changed, but the
next lap the same thing happened.
"I don't know exactly why it happened because I was not aware of
picking up debris on the track, but maybe I did. The other tyres
were looking quite good in terms of tyre wear. Both times, it was
the left tyre, which is very unusual, and why I would not think it
was a tyre problem."
- AFP/ir
Will this season be overshadowed by the decline of the mighty
Reds as this CNA report suggests? I hope it will be. 
