Formula One enters the post-Schumacher era

LONDON, Dec 15: After being dazzled for more than a decade by Michael Schumacher's controversial brilliance, Formula One will have a new look next year and it could take some getting used to.

While Fernando Alonso and his Renault team provided continuity by winning both titles for the second year in a row, the final chequered flag of the season in Brazil in October marked the end of an era.

The most successful driver in the 56-year history of the Formula One championship has gone, heading into retirement with his seven crowns, 91 race wins and almost every major record in the book.

Schumacher did it in style, roaring from the rear of the field at Interlagos to finish fourth with one last, breathtaking overtaking manoeuvre on the man who replaces him at Ferrari -- McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen.

Next year will have a very different feel to it. There will not be a driver on the Melbourne starting grid come March who has ever started a season without the Ferrari ace as a competitor.

Only six of the current crop have even attended a race weekend without the 37-year-old German, the last time being in 1999 after he broke his leg at Silverstone.

Alonso, Formula One's youngest double champion, will be in McLaren overalls hoping to take the Mercedes-powered team back to the top after their first season in a decade without a win and become only the third driver to take three titles in a row.

Raikkonen joins a restructured Ferrari just as technical director Ross Brawn takes a sabbatical and Bridgestone become tyre supplier to all the teams after Michelin's withdrawal.

Renault and McLaren boast new title sponsors, and a changed livery, while they respectively have Finland's Heikki Kovalainen and Briton Lewis Hamilton hoping to win races in their rookie seasons.

McLaren have an all-new line-up and in Hamilton, the first black driver in Formula One, as good a symbol as any of the dawning of a new and exciting post-Schumacher era.

EMOTIONAL SPEECH

Schumacher's decision to quit, after months of speculation, provided an unforgettable moment in grand prix racing's thrilling centenary year.

''At the end of this year, I've decided together with the team that I'm going to retire from racing,'' he said, voice straining with emotion, at Monza.

Schumacher won that day, one of seven victories for the German -- a tally matched by 25-year-old Spaniard Alonso who racked up four in a row until the U.S. Grand Prix in July.

Indianapolis, and the governing body's subsequent decision to ban Renault's controversial mass-damper system, proved a turning point and Schumacher roared back into contention with what would have been one of the greatest of comebacks. From being 25 points adrift, the Ferrari driver took the lead in China with two races remaining -- only for a rare engine failure in Japan to wreck his chances.

If Brazil showed Schumacher's fighting spirit, and Monza a more human side, then Monaco saw him steer right back into the thick of controversy.

His 'error' at the end of qualifying, when he blocked the track to ensure nobody else could beat him to pole position, drew furious accusations of cheating.

ALONSO OVERCOMES

As the title battle intensified, Alonso was caught in the eye of the storm -- the Spaniard declaring bitterly that Formula One was no longer a sport after stewards penalised him at Monza for allegedly impeding Ferrari's Felipe Massa in qualifying.

Even if Ferrari and Renault won all but one of the races, in a year when peace finally broke out between the manufacturers and governing body over the future direction of the sport, there were memorable breakthroughs by others to savour.

Briton Jenson Button won for Honda, his first victory in 113 starts, while Massa took a first triumph in Turkey -- where a podium controversy cost local organisers a record million fine -- and became the first Brazilian to win his home race since the late Ayrton Senna in 1993.

Last year's Brazilian GP winner, McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya, had already left for NASCAR in a shock decision over the summer.

Honda-backed Super Aguri arrived as the 11th team, but failed to score a point, and Midland were sold to Dutch luxury sportscar maker Spyker.

Robert Kubica became Poland's first Formula One driver and it took the 21-year-old just three races to get on the podium with third place at Monza. As he stepped up at BMW Sauber, Canada's 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve left.

Months earlier, MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi had closed the door on a possible Ferrari drive after increasingly serious tests with the team, deciding instead to stay on two wheels.

However the charismatic Italian, dethroned by Honda's American Nicky Hayden in the final race of the year after a season full of thrills and spills, took part in the New Zealand round of the world rally championship and hinted that his future could lie in that direction.

That would be good news for the rally world, whose championship was dominated once again by Frenchman Sebastien Loeb even if Ford did collect their first manufacturers' title in 27 years.

Citroen's Loeb, the 'Michael Schumacher of Rallying', wrapped up his third title in a row despite missing the last four races with a broken arm. And, unlike the German, he will be back for more next year.

Reuters