Ralf takes first step on long road to freedom

His employer, Sir Frank Williams, concurs. "There is a slim, slim chance of the title," he said. "It's not impossible but our competitors are very good. This will go on all year, like a long world championship boxing match. There will be no clear victor. It will be won on points."

Williams technical director Patrick Head is similarly cautious, even though the team originally estimated race wins would be a possibility only in the second half of the season.

"You don't plan to win a world championship," he said. "Maybe we can start thinking about it in a few races' time. But Ralf didn't put a foot wrong at Imola. It was a brilliant job, a perfect drive.

"I can't fault his racecraft and steadiness under pressure. He's outstandingly quick, no doubt about that, but this will provide a step up for him. Now that he has won his first race, I suspect he will be able to convert that into more race wins."

Rivals are wasting no time in taking the challenge seriously for this Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

"Williams can mount a challenge throughout the whole season," claimed joint championship leader David Coulthard. "They've been up there in qualifying and it's clear that Ralf is the quickest combination out there."

At the very least, however, Ralf put down a marker with that Imola victory, a race he led from start to finish. Niki Lauda has said he honestly believes Ralf to be as good as Michael. In Lauda's book, Ralf must have the potential to be a world champion on the basis that he has the same parents as his brother.

As a scientific argument this does not stand up to much scrutiny, but others have begun to speak of Schumacher Minor as a potential champion of the future.

"Ralf went through a lot of changes over the winter and I have to say he has been outstanding in every race so far," said Gerhard Berger, director of motorsport at Williams engine suppliers BMW.

"He is now really a complete driver and always uses the package to the maximum. He's very close to the performance of Michael, and I honestly think given the material he can win a lot more races."

Meantime, for all the excitement about the dual driver challenge at Williams, Ralf Schumacher has out-qualified team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya in four races out of four to date, and has 12 points to the Colombian's zero.

It seems quite amusing now to recall Schumacher's public lamentations when Williams decided to loan Jenson Button to Benetton for two years in order to make way for Montoya. "Being as human as everyone else and having the ego that drives competitive people, Ralf will not have enjoyed seeing Juan having so much glory after overtaking Michael in Brazil," remarked Frank Williams. "But I don't need to remind you that Ralf was sensationally quick in Brazil too. He is already a mature Grand Prix driver. This will settle him down and give him a bit more confidence."

Not that he has ever particularly lacked it. When he debuted with Jordan five years ago, he appeared to have an over-abundance of it. But with the passing of time he has become a more assured driver, allowing him to shed the chippiness which made him hard work in his early days.

Of late, he has become so sanguine that he has not even minded commenting on widespread whispers about his private life. The sight of a girlfriend, Cora Brinkmann, accompanying him to races this season raised eyebrows around the paddock.

"I know English journalists said I was gay," shrugged the German. "But bringing my girlfriend was not a reaction to that."

So all is well in the house of Schumacher. He has quit his home in the tax haven of Monaco for a "perfect life" near Salzburg in Austria, which he loves because it reminds him of growing up in Germany. The move seems to be bearing fruit with the only blot the possibility of losing his licence for 14 days after being caught speeding near his new home on Sunday evening.

"I waited long enough for my first win and I hope it's one of many," he said. "Since I joined Williams there has been a lot of work and it has paid off. The pressure is now on as well, because people will expect us to do well in Barcelona. Who knows what might be possible?"