| | Mika Hakkinen aims to become only the second driver to win three straight Formula One championships, but Michael Schumacher thinks he has the car to spoil that dream.
So, the story line again in F1 is McLaren vs. Ferrari. And Schumacher, also a two-time series champion, figures his Ferrari is
at least on even ground at the start.
"I don't know where McLaren is," said the German driver, whose 1999 season was ruined when he broke his leg during the British
Grand Prix. "But I'm confident that the gap between us at the first race will not exist anymore."
|  | | Mika Hakkinen's quest for a third-straight championship begins Sunday in Australia. |
The new Ferrari, to race for the first time Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, has been as quick in preseason
testing as the new McLaren -- the benchmark for speed the last few
seasons. But Schumacher, considered the most talented driver on the
circuit, must beat a confident and determined chief rival.
"I am hungry and motivated," said Hakkinen, trying to join the
great Juan Manuel Fangio as a winner of more than two straight
championships. "To make three championships in a row would mean
everything to me."
It could mean acceptance as one of the greats in F1 history for
a driver widely perceived as just being fortunate to have the
fastest car. Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Aryton Senna and Schumacher
failed in their bids for a third straight title. Fangio won four in
a row in the 1950s.
Former Schumacher teammate Eddie Irvine, who finished second to
Hakkinen last season, believes the Finn will fall short.
"If the gap is as close as I think it is, Michael will make the
difference," said Irvine, who has moved this year to Jackie
Stewart's Jaguar team. "Mika is a good driver, but he's not
Michael.
"Michael has had an inferior car for the last two years, and
has still nearly done it."
The Ferrari camp is hopeful that Schumacher can shed the label
of not winning the big ones at the end of the season and give rabid
Italian fans the automaker's first driver title since Jody
Scheckter in 1979. Last year, Ferrari won its first constructor
championship since 1983.
Northern Ireland's Irvine, who accounted for most of those
points with Schumacher sidelined for six races, says a repeat might
depend on Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who left Stewart for
Ferrari. Irvine likens the role as Schumacher's second to being hit
over the head daily with a cricket bat.
"Michael will kill Barrichello, just like he did every one of
his teammates so far," Irvine said.
The Schumacher-Barrichello relationship will play itself over 17
events, and many other questions should be answered by the time the
globetrotting racers reach Sepang, for the season-ending Malaysian
Grand Prix on Oct. 22.
One of the most intriguing questions is whether the Williams
team will succeed with its new BMW engine after a terrible 1999 and
again become an F1 factor. Schumacher's brother, Ralf, who finished
sixth in points last year, is now one of the top drivers in the
series.
And Williams also has created excitement by hiring 20-year-old
Englishman Jenson Button as its second driver. Is that expecting
too much, too fast?
"It's difficult to say, but everything he has done so far has
made a good impression," said former driver Gerhard Berger, who
now heads BMW's F1 effort.
Berger thinks Button has enough talent to be competitive. Button
says age is no impediment.
"If you're good enough, you're old enough," he said.
Other issues:
Will British American Racing, with its new Honda engine, be
any better than last season, when it failed to win a single point
despite one of the best-financed packages in F1?
Will Americans embrace F1 as it returns after a nine-year
absence for the U.S. Grand Prix on Sept. 24 at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway?
Will any of the also-rans -- Benetton, Prost, Sauber, Arrows or
Minardi -- pull surprises?
And then there's the Jordan team, a stunning third last year in the constructors race. With German Heinz-Harald Frentzen reaching
his prime and highly touted Italian upstart Jarno Trulli coming aboard, flamboyant Eddie Jordan thinks his team will make further
inroads.
"We are going to cause a lot of upset to the top two teams," he said. "We're going to put them under pressure. The best chapter
of our history is still to come." | |
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