Italian team no longer the defending champion (ANSA) - Manama, March 10 - For the first time in years, Ferrari will begin the Formula 1 season not as the car to beat but only as a possible contender for the championship .

In 2005 Renault broke Ferrari's six-year winning streak and won the constructors' title. The French team is a favorite this year well .

Last year was also bad for Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher who after taking the drivers' title five years in a row found himself only in third place at the end of the season .


Renault's Fernando Alonso took the crown from Schumacher, becoming Formula 1's youngest champion, while McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen was runner-up .

McLaren had a resurgence towards the end of last season, despite a series of mechanical problems, and is also a strong favorite this year together with Honda .

The Japanese car has been very fast in pre-season tests and this year can count on the experience of Schumacher's ex-teammate Rubens Barrichello. Because of regulation changes, including switching to a smaller V8 engine, all cars are new this year and Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix will surely give an important indication of how the season may shape up .

Ferrari has mostly tested on its own so it is difficult to compare its new car to those of other teams. However, its new V8 engine has not been significantly faster than a reduced-power version of the old V10 .

Nevertheless, expectations are high at Ferrari and Schumacher said he was convinced the new car, the 248F1, "has the potential to make a challenge for the title" .

Speaking here at the official pre-weekend press conference, Schumacher said he was "up and ready for the challenge this year" .

Looking ahead to the new season, Schumacher observed "this is going to be a tough season. The teams appear to be very close to each other in performance terms and so it will be a tight battle. This will be fantastic for the sport and its fans" .

This will be Schumacher's 15th year in Formula 1 and since 1994 he has always been a leading contender for the drivers' championship, winning two titles with the Renault-powered Benetton before moving to Ferrari and picking up five more .

Schumacher's contract with Ferrari expires at the end of 2006 and he has made it clear that if he does not retire he would like to stay with the Italian team, but only if it is competitive this year .

The 37-year-old champion said he would make a decision about his future at the middle of the season .

Aside from the engine change, another novelty this season which is sure play a major role is the revised qualifying system .

The single-lap system has been replaced with a three-stage knockout format with all cars on the track .

The first two 15-minute stages will determine the last ten places in the starting grid, filled by the five slowest cars in the first round and the five slowest in the second .

The final third stage will last 20 minutes and will be a shootout between the ten remaining cars for the top ten places on the grid, assigned based on best lap speeds .

The qualifying session will be staged Saturday afternoon, after a one-hour practice session in the morning .

Another change this year is the return of tire changes during the race, banned in 2005 .

Until this year Ferrari had been the only major team to use Bridgestone tires but this year it will be joined by Toyota and Williams .

The other teams, including Renault and McLaren, will still be running Michelins .

Tires were one of Ferrari's biggest problems last year and some pundits believe that Bridgestone's development of new tires and compound mixtures was hindered by working with only one team .