With the dominance shown by Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari, last Sunday's Spanish GP at the Catalunya circuit provided an opportunity to reflect on the misfortunes of the mere mortals further down the grid. Richards Barnes reviews the event from the point of view of those who left Spain with nothing to show for

He came, he saw, he conquered. Or at least, that's how it may have looked. In reality, he came, he tried several setups that didn't work optimally, he ended up borrowing settings from his teammate minutes before the end of qualifying, he lost hydraulics in the warmup, he jumped into the spare car for the race, and only then did he conquer. Michael Schumacher's Spanish GP weekend was a reflection of just how small the margins in modern F1 have become. And just how extreme the rewards and penalties at the opposite ends of the success scale.

Even though Schumacher grabbed the headlines and media spotlight, both for winning the race and simply for being Michael Schumacher, his race was just one of 22 such stories on any GP weekend. With Schumacher literally toying with the opposition, and the prospects of a close Championship looking ever more remote, Sunday's Spanish GP at the Catalunya circuit provided an opportunity to reflect on the misfortunes of the mere mortals further down the grid.

For the casual F1 fan, it's easy to become inured to the potentially shattering effects that machinery, reliability and sheer blind luck can have on the drivers, not only over the course of one weekend but in terms of whole careers. For the average F1 driver, each race represents one or two percent of their F1 careers, and probably fifty percent of how the media and fans will view them until the next race. 'You're only as good as your last event' is the ruling ethic in virtually all sports, but particularly so for F1. 'Second sucks and third is worse' is also particularly apt. Tiger Woods may have said it first, but it could just as easily have been a racing driver talking.

Particularly at the beginning of each season, F1 drivers need to deliver results quickly and consistently, not only for the team but more for their own confidence. Success is the catalyst, the 'streak factor' that boosts self-confidence and leads to drivers 'making' their own good luck a la Schumacher. Over the opening quarter of virtually any season, the overwhelming majority of drivers will have to swallow the bitter pill of failing to meet their expectations. On Sunday, Juan Pablo Montoya was the most obvious case. A month ago, after two hair-rising first-lap contacts with Schumacher, Montoya the 'Monster' was being touted as the only genuine 'Schumacher-beater' in the field. How quickly that image has slipped away, and how quickly it will be revived when Williams and Michelin rise to Ferrari's level again.

It doesn't matter that Williams and Michelin simply couldn't match Ferrari/Bridgestone at Catalunya. Montoya knows and accepts, like all F1 drivers, that excuses don't win Championships, and it was a muted Monster indeed that trailed Schumacher home at Catalunya. Still, at least the Colombian had the consolation six points to show for his efforts. Montoya's Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher had the same look on his face during the post-race interviews at Imola two weeks ago - sheer depressed disbelief that Ferrari had leapt so far ahead so quickly, especially given that Imola and Catalunya have never been the most Ferrari-friendly circuits.

On Sunday, Ralf undid literally hundreds of hours worth of work, both by himself and the team, with one simple driving mistake. It wasn't a gross error of judgement, just enough to throw the precarious mechanical balance of his Williams out of kilter - and himself out of the points. His trip across the rumble strips not only handed brother Michael a further six-point Championship advantage, it also re-established Montoya as the leading Williams Championship challenger - and all this in full view of the massive and critical global audience. Small wonder that the German was so uncommunicative with the team after the mistake.

Further down the field, the Renault pairing of Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli must be wondering what it will take to complete a full race at their potential speed. Button again outqualified his highly rated teammate, again looked likely to earn a podium finish, and again suffered the frustration of car problems ruining a faultless drive. For his part, Trulli again failed to finish, in what has become the ritual norm for the luckless Italian. Button's deserved podium spot ended up being inherited by McLaren's David Coulthard, although it was hardly cause for celebration by the Scot. 'Top British Driver of 2002' was not the title that Coulthard had in mind during the long months of winter training and pre-season preparations.

Coulthard's new teammate Kimi Raikkonen has even less reason to be happy. Outqualifying the vastly experienced and McLaren-established Coulthard three times in his first five races has been a grand effort by the young Finn. But, as with Trulli, it never seems to translate into deserved points. One good result from McLaren could reignite the momentum they so desperately need, but neither the drivers nor the car seem capable of it. The McLaren effort this season has been bland, and blandness is not a quality that sits well with the team.

If the Williams, Renault and McLaren drivers all have reason to bemoan cruel Fate, how much greater must the pain be for the Honda F1 organisation, and their two works-supported teams who, incredibly, find themselves propping up the Constructors' Championship table without a single point between them. After the loss of designer Eghbal Hamidy and another early race retirement for star driver Giancarlo Fisichella, the last thing team owner Eddie Jordan needed to see was rookie Takuma Sato burying another car in the kitty-litter.

It is hard not to sympathise with Sato. Each rookie driver has his own way of adapting to the demands of F1. Some, like Raikkonen and Button, impress immediately with their unruffled and smooth style. Others, like Montoya and Sauber's Felipe Massa, bend the car to their will - figuratively if not physically. Sato clearly belongs in the latter camp, and accidents will form an important and inevitable part of his learning curve. Sadly, in a cash-strapped and under-performing team, it's not an indulgence that he can afford. When quizzed by ITV pitlane reporter Louise Goodman about the Sato spin, Eddie Jordan was generously diplomatic and fair. Continuing to show such patience will prove a mighty test for the benign Irishman, under the mounting toll of the 'season from Hell'.

Of all Sunday's hard luck stories, the winner's trophy must go to Rubens Barrichello. Like all of Michael Schumacher's recent teammates, Barrichello is so often the invisible man of F1. If beating his teammate is the primary goal of any racing driver, then Barrichello faces the most daunting task in motor sport. Ferrari are often accused of being a one-man team, and the accusations are justified. Everything about Ferrari - the team focus, the media spotlight, the expectations - centres on Schumacher. Barrichello has to perform extraordinarily just to rate a mention, and during the Spanish GP weekend he did.

Saturday's qualifying saw Barrichello almost pip Schumacher for the second race in succession, and this after the Brazilian had already claimed pole in the season-opener at Melbourne. That level of teammate competition is almost unprecedented in Schumacher's career, and Barrichello followed it up by posting a comfortable fastest time in the Sunday morning warm-up. With Schumacher's race-car preparations hampered by the hydraulics failure during the warm-up, Barrichello must have felt that surely his time had come. Being left stranded at the line was the sort of malicious plot wrinkle that typifies the sport's cruel nature.

Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Trulli, Button and the others will be back. It might 'only' be one GP, or 'only' a driving error or mechanical DNF. Still, they all count, and being philosophical about misfortune runs counter to the F1 mindset. If these drivers didn't believe they could turn things around entirely on their own skills, they wouldn't be there. Yet, if F1 luck is wicked, it is equally capricious. The Catalunya losers will arrive in Austria in two weeks, primed for battle. All the way through the grid, private battles will be fought, fuelled by the pride, passion, expertise and relentless work ethic of the sport's elite. And doubtless, the tide will turn for some. It is this quality that defines the sport and keeps us coming back for more, no matter how one-sided the racing may seem.