Eddie Irvine has told Michael Schumacher's rivals to forget all thoughts about winning the World Championship this year. The Ulsterman believes his former Ferrari team-mate is a racing certainty to claim a record-equalling fifth drivers' crown. Irvine claimed: "The championship is a foregone conclusion - but then it always was going to be unless Michelin could produce a tyre that is much better than Bridgestone, but Bridgestone have come back big-time. I still think Michelin have the overall advantage under dry conditions but it is not big enough to wipe out the Ferrari-Schumacher effect."
Schumacher leads the championship by 14 points after winning three of the first four races from his brother Ralf, whose Williams-BMW team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya is three points further back. The German is expected to turn Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona into another Ferrari procession.
Filed by Shane Murray
