Schumacher faces tougher test under new F1 rules

Formula One bosses have made it harder for Michael Schumacher to win an unprecedented sixth title next year, even if the Ferrari driver has escaped being slowed down by lead weights.

Important changes to the qualifying format and the points system introduced on Monday should help keep the championship open for longer than 2002 when Schumacher wrapped it up in record time.

Schumacher equalled Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five titles with six rounds remaining this year in a record-breaking season of 11 wins.

But next year he will compete under a revised system awarding points to the top eight finishers in a sequence of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 rather than just the leading six with the current 10-6-4-3-2-1 format.

Had that system alone been applied this season, Schumacher would at least have had to wait until his home grand prix at Hockenheim to be sure of the title rather than a race earlier in France.

Schumacher would in fact have scored more points -- 102 after France as opposed to 96 this year -- but the advantage over his rivals would have been trimmed.

Williams' Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya would have been 52 points adrift of the German after France, with 60 remaining to be won.

However, changes to qualifying are likely to further complicate matters in 2003 with a new element of uncertainty introduced that could throw races wide open.

Drivers will have just one flying lap each to secure pole position next year with their slots allocated according to times in a similar session on Friday.

One mistake, a mechanical failure or a change in weather conditions could mean the difference between a place at the front of the grid and the back.

BALLAST JETTISONED

Schumacher has not had a mechanical failure on race day for more than a year but any problems on the Saturday could cost him dear from now on even if plans to introduce ballast handicaps have been scrapped.

FIA president Max Mosley said qualifying would now "in all probability result in several of the fastest drivers making a mistake in their efforts to get at the front of the grid and being much further back than they would normally expect to be.

"That on the Sunday will result in those drivers being forced to overtake a number of cars before they can get to the front at all whereas, at the moment, they would start on the front of the grid and really just drive away."

The German has also been deprived of his favourite circuit after Formula One authorities axed the Belgian Grand Prix, that he has won six times since his debut there in 1991, in a row over tobacco advertising.

Even more significantly, Ferrari's comfortable arrangement with tyre supplier Bridgestone will be weakened by a new regulation allowing tyre makers to provide different dry tyres to different teams.

That will allow Williams and McLaren to effectively have tailor-made tyres from Michelin next year.

Team orders, which have controversially favoured Schumacher in the past, have also been banned when they clearly interfere with the race result as they did in Ferrari's Austrian one-two this season.

Ferrari won 15 of the 17 races in 2002 and their domination and Schumacher's success prompted the regulation changes as television viewing figures in some countries showed a distinct decline.

MAINTAIN INTEREST

The aim is clearly to stretch out the championship as long as possible but not to tie Ferrari or Schumacher's hands behind his back.

"On balance it seems that what we're doing is likely to produce a significant change," said Mosley.

"The ballast was thrown out because people felt that it was probably better to try and find a solution where we didn't put anyone under any sort of difficulty.

"In the end I think we all felt that we'd really like to see whoever it may be, Schumacher or whatever, running in the best possible condition, going as fast as he possibly could, without any form of restriction.

"We hope the new qualifying system will shake the grid up a little bit so that we'll see some of these people a little bit behind having to overtake which could lead to quite a bit of interest."