By Andrew Benson Motorsport editor

Schumacher has not been pleased by Ferrari's pace in 2005

Fernando Alonso has always said that if he was going to win the Formula One world championship, he wanted to do it before Michael Schumacher retired; this year his wish might well come true.

Heading into this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, the Spaniard already holds a 14-point lead over Schumacher after Ferrari's disastrous start to the season.

More importantly with 17 races still to run, Alonso has a performance advantage that looks likely to stay for the next few races at least.

Ferrari have bounced back from seemingly unrescuable situations so many times that writing them off is a fool's game.

Malaysian Grand Prix report

But so far off the pace were Ferrari at the Malaysian Grand Prix that even the debut of their definitive 2005 car in Bahrain this weekend looks unlikely to solve all their problems.

Even technical director Ross Brawn has admitted the team have a "mountain to climb".

Will Ferrari's new car turn the team's fortunes around?

If that sounds melodramatic, consider that Schumacher was an average of 1.7 seconds a lap slower than Alonso in the race in Malaysia - a lifetime in F1.

And no team makes that sort of step forward with a new car.

Ferrari's malaise is multi-pronged, and concerns their car and its tyres, as well as the way events have unfolded in 2005.

They started the season with an updated version of last year's car, to give them more time to adapt their 2005 model to the demands of the new rules, which represent the biggest technical upheaval in F1 for years.

In the long-term, this could help Ferrari - it means they have spent longer designing their 2005 car than any other team, which should in theory mean it is better than any other car when it appears.

In the meantime, though, Ferrari had to adapt last year's car to the new rules, which forced them to make compromises in its aerodynamic design.

Schumacher has had to get used to racing down the field this year

Schumacher has also suffered from bad luck - his qualifying run at the first race of the season in Australia coincided with a downpour.

That consigned him to an unrepresentative 18th on the grid, and while team-mate Rubens Barrichello fought up to second in the race from 11th, the German got mired in traffic and ended up crashing out.

In Malaysia, though, there were no such excuses. Ferrari were just plain slow - and much of that was down to their Bridgestone tyres.

F1's new rules explained

Many hoped that F1's new tyre rules - which require only one set of rubber to be used throughout qualifying and race - might shake up the order, and so it has proved.

Michelin - which supplies Renault, McLaren, Williams, Red Bull and BAR - seems to have done a better job of combining the new requirements of grip and durability than its Japanese rival, which has generally had the upper hand since 2001.

And while the Bridgestones coped pretty well in Melbourne, the hotter conditions and more demanding circuit at Sepang found them out.

Schumacher and Brawn know they have a lot of hard work ahead

It is in this area that Ferrari will have their biggest concerns.

According to Brawn, Ferrari's new F2005 car is 0.5-0.8secs faster than the old one.

Cooler conditions at other tracks - although not, probably, in Bahrain - might cut the deficit to Renault by about another 0.5secs as Bridgestones traditionally work less well than Michelins in very hot weather.

But, judging by Malaysia, that would still mean Ferrari were between 0.4-0.7secs slower than Renault. And that time will largely have to come from Bridgestone.

Exacerbating Ferrari's problems is that there are several competitive teams between them and the front of the grid.

Renault have the fastest car at the moment, and with two classy drivers in Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella they look set to be the team to beat throughout 2005.

Close behind them are Toyota, who have completed a remarkable transformation from makeweights into front-runners, and McLaren, who have yet to deliver the best from a very fast car.

Renault have set a searing pace in Formula One this season

Williams are next in line, while BAR and Red Bull have also shown speed.

Most of these teams have already proved that they are capable of taking points off Ferrari, and are likely to continue to do so until the world champions get back on to the pace.

In the meantime, the Renault drivers in particular should be able to build on an already substantial lead - which under the new points system introduced in 2003 will be difficult for Ferrari to close.

"I don't think that just going back to a cooler environment (in Europe) is going to solve the problem," Brawn said in Malaysia, "so there's a pretty stiff challenge ahead."

Few doubt that Ferrari - and particularly Bridgestone - will get it right in the end, but by then it might already be too late for Schumacher to win a sixth consecutive title.