Preview: Schumacher Must Fight for Eighth Crown

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher has his work cut out if he is to extend the longest reign in Formula One history and secure an astonishing eighth crown.

The German, now the oldest driver at the age of 36, starts the season as favourite for a sixth successive title in a billion dollar sport facing an uncertain future while powerbrokers fight over its finances.

Yet Schumacher, for whom retirement still seems far in the future, faces a tougher challenge than last year's one-sided procession when he won 13 of the 18 races and added more records to his collection.

McLaren, with the formidable pairing of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen, and resurgent Renault threaten to thwart his plans.

An all-new Williams line-up and BAR, runners-up last year, may not be in a position to win Sunday's Australian season-opener but they too could be eyeing victories later on in a 19-race marathon that constitutes Formula One's biggest calendar yet.

Ferrari and Schumacher ran away with last year's race in Melbourne, and the next four after that as well, setting the tone for the 'red wash' that was to come. The team ended the year with 15 wins.

This time the champions arrive with a modified version of their old car while their new one, again hailed as the best ever, will remain at home until at least the third race of the season and possibly the fifth.

"We're quite happy with what we have but you can always do better," said Schumacher on Thursday. "Last year we had a new car and that was a very fast toy.

"Now we've got the older car, which I'm pretty sure a lot of people would like to have, but I look forward to having the new car. I think we will be reasonably competitive but not completely up front."

Drivers must make engines last for two Grand Prix weekends and also nurse their tyres, with the same set having to last for both qualifying and the race. That change could transform races into a genuine contest over the distance.

"It's going to be a very different sort of race for everyone, it's not going to be three or four sprints. It's going to be an endurance race," said Briton Jenson Button.

Qualifying too has a different look, with the decisive session controversially switched to Sunday morning, only hours before the race. There is added spice with the first Grand Prix in Turkey, India's first Formula One driver in Jordan's Narain Karthikeyan and two new-look teams.

Red Bull Racing, owned by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, have replaced Jaguar while Jordan, to be renamed in 2006, have been bought by the Midland Group of Russian-born Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider.

Only Ferrari and BAR, runners up last season thanks to Button's 10 podium finishes, have unchanged driver line-ups.

While the action on the track promises to be more entertaining, at least until Ferrari bring out their new car, the behind the scenes situation will also continue to dominate the headlines. Commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone faces continued legal sparring with the banks that own 75 percent of Formula One's holding company.

Meanwhile, the battle is on between the governing FIA and car manufacturers, who are threatening their own series from 2008 when the existing Concorde Agreement expires.

"The prevailing atmosphere in the sport at the moment stinks," team boss Frank Williams, who has decades of experience in the sport, said last week. "It's just getting worse and worse.

"It is very unhealthy. F1 has never been like this before, even back in 1980 when we all fought the war against Max's predecessor, Jean-Marie Balestre. He never tried to interfere so much in the daily life of the teams."

Whoever wins the title in 2005 can be sure of plenty of controversy along the way.