A Fitting Start

In Formula One, approximately once each decade, there is a standout year that marks a watershed and the figurative passing of the mantle from one generation to the next. In 1975, the precocious Niki Lauda's debut championship win for Ferrari not only heralded a resurgence for the Scuderia, but also ushered out the era of Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi, who had won five of the six previous WDC titles between them.

Lauda himself was the outgoing elder statesman nine years later in 1984. Although he managed to hang on for the closest championship win possible (by just half a point) over McLaren teammate Alain Prost, the turning of the tide was inevitable and Prost went on to championship victory the next season. 1984 was also significant for the F1 arrival of the young Ayrton Senna, whose duels with Prost would become F1 folklore over the next decade.

1994 marked a similar watershed year, albeit for tragic reasons. Ayrton Senna could and should have had the opportunity to fight a season-long battle with his eventual successor, but it was not to be. In 2006, it is Michael Schumacher's turn to face the timeless ritual of succession.

Arguably, the transition has already happened via Fernando Alonso's championship title win in 2005. But Schumacher is far from a spent force, and Ferrari's and Bridgestone's form was so poor last season that Schumacher could have been considered in absentia.

Schumacher himself, not to mention legions of F1 fans, deserved a fitting showdown between the maestro and his two most likely heirs, Renault's Alonso and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, in roughly equal machinery. If Sunday's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix is anything to go by, 2006 will deliver handsomely on that prospect.

Schumacher's weekend couldn't have started on a higher note, when the German immediately put the Ferrari on pole, emulating Ayrton Senna's record of 65 pole positions. Schumacher was uncharacteristically unemotional about the achievement, stating only that "it makes me proud, that's probably all I should and can say about it."

Schumacher's reaction was possibly based on the fact that he took far longer to achieve his 65 poles than Senna did, or perhaps on the realization that the statistic has lost its true significance. In Senna's time, a pole position entailed stringing together perfect sectors with the fastest possible set-up. With today's qualifying format, pole is often little more than a reflection of fuel loads.

Nevertheless, it's another milestone and record entry into the Schumacher legacy, however it was achieved. For Schumacher, the failure to follow through on Sunday will be more significant. The Sakhir circuit is a test venue for Bridgestone and Ferrari, and they needed the maximum points haul from Bahrain. Allowing Alonso to sneak the victory wasn't in the game plan, particularly not when it was achieved on a Ross Brawn-like stroke of precision strategic timing.

Schumacher was gracious in defeat, and seemed genuinely relieved and pleased that Ferrari are at least challenging for wins again. Internally, he is in the same position as Master and Commander's Captain Lucky Jack Aubrey. Outmanoeuvred by his French nemesis at sea, Aubrey's jaw sets as he notes: "This is the second time he's done this to me. There will not be a third."

For Schumacher, Sunday was a third. The first was Alonso's careful defensive driving to foil the German at Imola last season. The second, and possibly the highlight of the whole season, was the new world champion blowing past Schumacher on the outside of 130R at Suzuka.

Of course, Alonso is not the first driver to put one over the seven-time world champion. Mika Hakkinen did it in spectacular fashion at Spa-Francorchamps in 2000, and Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya, Raikkonen and even David Coulthard have all had their moments of triumph at Schumacher's expense. However, Schumacher has generally had the better of exchanges, and the last laugh, against his previous rivals.

By contrast, he's had slim pickings against Alonso. He cannot even count on his greatest weapon - season-long consistency - because Alonso is displaying the same levels of maturity in his driving.

Kimi Raikkonen en route to third place in his McLaren-Mercedes © LAT

The focus on the leading two meant that the third major player in the 2006 championship, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, became Sunday's forgotten man. Yet, of the three, Raikkonen has the most reason to feel satisfied with the race outcome.

After a difficult period of pre-season engine unreliability and almost predictable technical gremlins during qualifying, Raikkonen must have felt a strong sense of deja vu - that he would once again watch helplessly as the championship pacesetters opened up an unassailable advantage during the opening quarter of the season.

Escaping with a podium finish and six points was a mighty reprieve for the Finn. Although it wasn't just the podium finish, but the manner in which he scored it, that impressed. Forced to run a theoretically slower one-stopper from the back of the grid, Raikkonen pegged his two hard-racing rivals to a final gap of less than twenty seconds - most of which would have been lost on the first few laps as he fought through slower traffic.

Raikkonen's success leaves the fourth major player in the 2006 championship, Honda's Jenson Button, with some telling questions to ponder. Honda have ostensibly done everything right, building a reliable package and recording very competitive times in pre-season testing. Yet, in a throwback to the BAR days, the fast individual laps are not being sustained over the longer stints.

Button is clearly feeling racy, and must be one of the few F1 drivers ever to pass Juan Pablo Montoya twice in one afternoon. But Montoya is not his mark, Raikkonen is. If the Finn can afford to give Button a 19-place head start on the grid and still beat him on a heavier starting fuel load and fewer sets of fresh rubber, then Button's ambitions of GP victories may have to wait for at least a season longer.

Honda's prospects in the constructors' championship look slightly more promising. All four of the main challengers - Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Honda - have outstanding team leaders. Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button are top performers who will take whatever the car gives them. So the constructors' championship is likely to be settled by the number twos.

Giancarlo Fisichella is a dependable performer for Renault, but his awful mechanical luck struck again on Sunday. Ferrari debutant Felipe Massa still seems too wild to be a constructors' championship asset and, for McLaren, Juan Pablo Montoya will be Juan Pablo Montoya. At times, he will make the rest of the field look pedestrian. At other times, he will either collide with backmarkers or will vanish anonymously backwards into the pack.

Of all the major teams, and notwithstanding his troubled debut for Honda at Bahrain, Rubens Barrichello in a reliable car could provide the most consistent results of the number twos. Barrichello was a superb points-accumulator at Ferrari and has proven race-winning ability. Still, the averages would have to favour the Raikkonen-Montoya pairing.

Bahrain 2006 was the first season-opener in living memory, and certainly within the last quarter of a century, in which the three championship favourites, driving three different cars, filled the podium positions. The final gap between the leading pair was just over one second, and third-placed Raikkonen would probably have been right up with them if not for his last-row grid spot. If that doesn't highlight the prospects for one of the closest and most thrilling seasons in history, then nothing will.