Sibling rivalry: Michael Schumacher and Ferrari again dominated F1 in 2001, but this year they should have a new principal rival and—for the driver—a familiar and familial challenger - F1 - Formula 1

Auto Racing Digest, May, 2002 by Dan Knutson

AFTER HIS RECORD-SETTING 2001 Formula One season, reigning world champion Michael Schumacher isn't planning to slow down in 2002. "The aim is to win as many races as I Can," says the Ferrari driver. "To me, each race is a new challenge. I like to compete, and I feel the high level of competition is what makes Formula One so special. There is plenty of fire in me, which will keep me pushing for quite a while."

Last year, Schumacher raised his career Grand Prix win total to a record 53--two more than the previous record of 51 wins--held by Alain Prost. Schumacher also took over the record of career laps led from Ayrton Senna and career points from Prost. This year, Schumacher could tie Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five World Championships. He predicts, however, that he won't be able to romp away with the title in 2002 like he did in 2001, when rival teams West McLaren Mercedes and Williams BMW suffered a series of mechanical and strategic breakdowns. "We will find out how much tougher ifs going to be," says Schumacher. "I think it was a tough challenge in 2001. We had to fight for it very hard. We were lucky because of some misfortune for David Coulthard. That's why we finished with the championship early in the season--not because we were so dominant."

Germany's Schumacher is pairing up with Brazil's Rubens Barrichello for a third consecutive season at Ferrari. Thanks to sporting director Jean Todt, chief designer Rory Byrne, technical director Ross Brawn, and engine guru Paolo Martinelli, Ferrari will be gunning for its 12th Constructors Championship in 2002.

In recent years it has been the McLaren Mercedes team that has been Ferrari's main challenger, but Williams BMW could be the prime thorn in Ferrari's side this year. Last year, Ralf Schumacher won three times while his Williams teammate Juan Pablo Montoya won once. Each also came close to winning on other occasions, too. If the Williams BMW team can keep up its momentum, it should score even more victories in 2002.

While this will only be Montoya's second F1 season (compared to Ralf's sixth), the Colombian had the upper hand towards the end of last year. And, judging by cutting comments from the Ralf Schumacher camp, the German is definitely concerned about being upstaged by his fiery teammate in 2002.

This year sees the end of the longest team pairing in F1 history, as David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen are no longer together after six seasons at McLaren. After winning two World Championships and 20 Grand Prix victories, a mentally exhausted Hakkinen is taking a sabbatical this year. Hakkinen isn't sure how soon, if ever, he will be back in the cockpit. "We will see what happens," he says. "Maybe I am going to stay at home for three or four months and then want like crazy to race again and will be at the Prix and tests asking to drive. It can happen. But it could go vice versa. Maybe I won't want to race. But I will have all the doors open in 2003, so I feel confident and comfortable with the situation."

Coulthard's new teammate is another Finn, the ice-cold and extremely fast Kimi Raikkonen, 21, who had an astounding rookie season with Sauber Petronas in 2001. Coulthard, meanwhile, is embarking on his ninth season in F1. MeLaren director Ron Dennis and the McLaren Mercedes team spent the winter reflecting and trying to determine what went wrong. "There were many times [in 2001] when we didn't do a very competent job," admits Dennis. "We had competitive cars and often had the opportunity to win and then suffered unreliability. Overall, we just weren't good enough and I think that that's the same for everybody who hasn't won."

There are always reasons why you're not competitive or that you're unable to finish races. The most important thing is to systematically analyze the reasons why and take the correct preventative steps to avoid it happening again. But Formula One is the pinnacle of motor sport; it's extremely difficult to succeed here. It's extremely difficult to win a race and it's even more difficult to win a World Championship."

One of the biggest variables this season will be tires. Last year, Ferrari and McLaren ran on Bridgestones while Williams used Michelins. This year, McLaren has switched to Michelins. It remains to be seen which tire suits which car best at which track.

Which team will be the best-of-the-rest probably won't be known until the final Grand Prix. Last year, the Swiss Sauber outfit, using one-year-old Ferrari V10s with the Petronas label, finished a surprising fourth in the Constructors Championship. When McLaren grabbed Raikkonen for 2002, Sauber again went for a rookie this season when it signed Brazilian Felipe Massa. He will partner Nick Heidfeld who is back at Sauber for another year. Sauber also lost its primary sponsor, Red Bull, and chief designer Sergio Rinland, both of which moved to Arrows.

Once again this year, both Lucky Strike British American Racing (BAR) and Jordan will again be the official Honda teams. BAR, however, has a closer relationship with Honda, which also supplies technical support on the chassis, engineer and materials fronts.