Irvine: Alonso is New F1 King

"The guy (Alonso) is awesome. When the pressure's on, he doesn't seem to make mistakes like Michael does. He's the new king," the Northern Irishman, who retired at the end of 2002, told BBC radio.

"Kimi Raikkonen's up there as well. The guard is changing, and I think it's about time because Michael is the most boring World Champion ever," he added.

Schumacher, champion for the past five years, is watching his hopes of an eighth crown slip away after his worst start to a season.

McLaren's Raikkonen beat Championship leader Alonso into second place in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix after the 23-year-old Spaniard had won the previous three races. Schumacher failed to finish.

Alonso has an 18-point lead in the Championship over Toyota's Jarno Trulli and is 34 points clear of Schumacher, who has now retired three times in five races.

The outspoken Irvine was Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari for four seasons from 1996 and has regularly sung the seven times World Champion's praise over the years.

Schumacher has only once challenged Alonso this year, at the San Marino Grand Prix when he finished right behind the winning Renault after an acclaimed display of defensive driving by the Spaniard.

Irvine saw that failure to win Ferrari's home race as a sign of the German's decline.

"All he had to do was put the car down the inside and say 'We either have an accident or you finish second," he said. "He's done much more bad things than that. Maybe age is getting to him. Three years ago he would have done that."

Schumacher, 36, is the oldest driver in Formula One.