Having won six out of eight races so far in 2002 and with a 43-point lead over his Williams rivals, Michael Schumacher seems to be knocking on the door of his fifth world crown. But his brother Ralf and his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya are ready to give the Ferrari driver a good run for his money despite his advantage. Atlas F1's Will Gray talked to both Williams drivers and found out why they think Schumacher is beatable

Michael Schumacher extended his World Championship lead to an almost unassailable 43 points with victory at last week's Canadian Grand Prix, but to some, including his brother Ralf and arch rival Juan Pablo Montoya, his success is more down to his car than his talent.

Ferrari and Schumacher have dominated the sport for the last three years and even though Montoya and the younger Schumacher's Williams-BMW team have gone all-out to chase them down, their efforts have failed to stop the German clocking up record after record as he establishes his name as one of the sport's greatest.

Their engine suppliers have been forced to up the revs on their power unit to reach the competition levels that Ferrari have attained, and that saw them blow both engines in the Montreal race, leaving Montoya devastated at failing to challenge Schumacher.

But Montoya, who is only in his second year of Formula One after moving across the Atlantic from CART in the United States, believes that the Ferrari car is making Schumacher look like something he is not. There is, of course, no doubting Schumacher has talent, but Montoya and Ralf both believe there are others who could do a similar job.

"There are quite a few drivers in the paddock who could do the job Michael is doing," Montoya says. "I don't think he is a bad driver - he is very good, but he's got a great car. He is doing an exceptional job with the package he's got but I don't think the guy is unbeatable."

Schumacher junior agrees: "I guess there are four Formula One drivers that could do a similar job to him. A driver usually drives a team to a certain amount of success, but he relies totally on the team.

"You need a car first to win it and we had a time when Williams were winning the Championship with Damon (Hill) and Jacques (Villeneuve) and then it was Mika (Hakkinen) and now Michael. I think whoever it was, each of them could have won that Championship in their individual car but not in a different car."

Although Montoya gave Michael Schumacher a good run for his money, his Williams-BMW was not a match for the Ferrari car. And that, says Schumacher's younger brother Ralf, is the crux of the problem: put us all in equal machinery and the racing would provide some interesting results.

It is now some ten races since Schumacher last finished off the podium, 13 races since he retired from a race and almost two years since he crashed out of a Grand Prix, when he was struck by Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton in Germany at the end of July 2000.

But, even more incredibly, it is 50 races since Schumacher last retired from an event because of an apparent driver error, when he locked his brakes coming into Stowe corner at Silverstone in July 1999 and broke his leg after piling into the tyre wall.

But Schumacher has made mistakes in races and been able to finish, notably in collisions with Montoya earlier this season, and his younger brother believes that the reason the Ferrari man makes fewer errors is not because he is simply better than everybody else, but because he has not been under pressure.

"Whenever he got under pressure, Michael made mistakes," the younger Schumacher said, before quashing claims that his brother is the best in the world. "He is only human. If you are the best you are never beaten by anybody else and he has been."

Indeed, both Ralf Schumacher and McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard have beaten the dominant but not all-conquering German this season, but with six wins from eight races he is still well on course for the Championship. And, looking at past history, he should climb up another step this weekend.

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine has already said that Schumacher will need the FIA to ban him from races if his massive lead is to be overhauled this year, and the German is up for punishment from the sport's governing body the FIA on June 26th for his podium antics following the controversial Austrian Grand Prix.

But Montoya believes Schumacher will get off lightly because of a past experience in Brazil this year, when his claims that the German chopped his car unfairly fell on deaf ears.

"People just respect him too much," said Montoya. "The problem is that as long as he is winning every race then for an FIA guy to go and put a sanction on Michael... I don't think he wants to have that weight on his shoulders."

Moreover, the reliability of the Ferrari compared to the Williams-BMW has helped Schumacher become a winner. The last race, in Canada, was a case in point.

In 2000, when BMW returned to Grand Prix racing, they took a cautious approach and the following year they went all-out to win but had a high average of engine failures as a result.

At the start of this season they found a balance between power and reliability but, with the dominance of the Ferrari, they have been forced to push the latest BMW powerplant to its limits.

"I think the team realised that they need to step up their game a lot," Montoya says. "I think we have. The team is realising what they need to do to be winning and I think things are happening. The time for Williams will come again. It seems (like it is almost there) but being there and almost being there is completely different."