Schumacher Struggles Back in Pack

When air escaped from Michael Schumacher's left front tyre last Sunday, it not only deflated his hopes of scoring points in Spain but it also lessened his chances of doing something useful in Monaco next weekend. Gone are the days when a Formula One driver could call upon the sporting cliché of putting disappointment behind him and focusing on the next event. Ferrari's latest calamity in Barcelona will invade Schumacher's thinking on Saturday afternoon when he examines the running order for first qualifying and reluctantly accepts that one hand has been tied behind his back.

Schumacher can thank the regulations attached to one-lap qualifying. The order for the first session is determined by the results of the previous race, with the winner going last, when the track should be at its best, having been cleaned up by the preceding cars. If the sport's administrators had their wits about them and thought about the viewers and fans - about as unlikely as Malcolm Glazer donning a red shirt and sitting in the Stretford End - when drawing up the rules, they would have reversed the order and given the pace setters an interesting handicap. But, as things stand, Schumacher will pay the price for his retirement in Spain by being the fourth to run on Saturday.

It could not happen at a worse time or place. Given that the streets of the principality are in daily use, the combination of dirt, oil and road markings makes an alien surface for a race track. With the first day of free practice scheduled for Thursday, a day earlier than normal, this has the double purpose of extracting more money from race teams and fans on their day off as well as ensuring that the racing line created on Thursday has all but disappeared when practice recommences on Saturday.

It gets worse. Schumacher will be in trouble anyway because his Bridgestone tyres - run almost exclusively by Ferrari - have shown a reluctance to match the demand of reaching a working temperature instantly during one-lap qualifying. Schumacher is therefore likely to be an early runner for final qualifying on race morning (the order having been established by Saturday's lap times) and the problem starts all over again. If there is one circuit where grid positions mean everything, then this is it. With the pole-position man driving the racing equivalent of a truck on a country road, the race should be his, provided that he keeps clear of the kerbs and barriers and the pit-stop strategy is spot on.

Schumacher is likely to remain trapped during the crucial phase leading to the first pit stop. Another poor result will not only end his hopes of winning another championship but it will also increase speculation over how much longer the man who has won 83 grands prix will be interested in watching his mirrors while waiting to be lapped by drivers 10 years his junior.

Schumacher's contract expires at the end of 2006 when, by a happy coincidence, Valentino Rossi's term with the Yamaha MotoGP team comes to an end. Rumours are circulating that the motorbike star could follow in the steps of John Surtees when he switched from two wheels to four and won the 1964 world championship for Ferrari.

The points table suggests that Renault are on course for the 2005 title, but, given Kimi Raikkonen's extraordinary pace as he led from start to finish in Spain, it is apparent that the McLaren-Mercedes - when it holds together - is more than a match for anyone. That performance advantage, so evident on the fast curves in Barcelona, may not be realised within the tight confines of Monaco's streets, all of which points to Renault and a car that has been competitive on all five circuits so far.

Monaco would have suited BAR-Honda, which makes Jenson Button's absence all the more difficult to bear as the team pay the price for having an underweight car at Imola. BAR-Honda transgressed one of the many complex rules governing the sport, as did Toyota when an internal administrative error meant that their 2005 competition licence has not been technically correct. The FIA is 'examining' the case, although the suggestion that Toyota could lose second place in the championship is, hopefully, extreme.

Such pettifogging officialdom is a far cry from the early days of the Tourist Trophy, one of the sport's classic events that today celebrates its 100th anniversary at Silverstone and sees the keenly awaited British debut of Aston Martin's Le Mans car.

Fifty years ago, the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR driven by Stirling Moss suffered a puncture during the Tourist Trophy, then held on the awesome Dundrod road circuit in Northern Ireland. The difference between Moss and Schumacher is that the Englishman went on to win and was not in the least concerned about qualifying for the next race.