Formula One/Monaco Grand Prix: The records tumble like dominoes. With each passing race Michael Schumacher appears to set a new standard, another seemingly impossible mark with which to taunt his rivals and which Formula One's "Stattos" feed back to the six-time world champion in order to elicit some kind of response from a man supposed to marvel at his own unassailable dominance.

By and large Schumacher just shrugs. They mean nothing to him.

But while the statistics are of little consequence to him, the record which could tumble to him on Sunday would be regarded with dismay by his supposed rivals. If Schumacher wins this weekend's blue riband Monaco Grand Prix, it will represent the best start to a Formula One season ever. Six starts, six wins . . . untouchable.

The feat, if accomplished, will represent a major slap in the face to rivals who, before the start of this season, were being trumpeted as having at last found the formula for loosening Schumacher and Ferrari's stranglehold on the sport.

But within hours of the grid's first outings in Australia in March those hopes had been lost, abandoned somewhere in the seconds that separated Schumacher from the rest of the grid.

So where have Ferrari's rivals gone wrong? The first answer is tyres. This time last year, Michelin, the tyre supplier of McLaren, Williams and the emerging Renault, unleashed a performance gain that knocked the championship trajectory of Schumacher's Bridgestone-shod Ferrari off track, and, after Schumacher had failed to take a win in seven races from Monaco on, led to a protest from the Japanese manufacturer prior to the Italian Grand Prix, which forced Michelin to rethink their tyre construction. Schumacher won two of the season's last three races to take the crown and Bridgestone disappeared into the winter determined to outstrip the opposition without resorting to the rule book.

And their efforts have been a startling success. In Barcelona a fortnight ago, Michelin boss Pierre Duspasquier revealed the French outfit were lagging half a second behind Bridgestone and that the previous week's test at Silverstone had been a bid to find a paltry 0.1 of a second improvement.

The teams, too, have had their problems, with McLaren the worst affected. From 10 starts this season the once all-powerful team has recorded just three points finishes. With Schumacher sitting on a perfect 50 points, David Coulthard leads McLaren's "charge" with four points. Kimi Raikkonen, widely tipped as this season's major challenger, has just a single point.

"At the end of the day it's not one element," moaned Coulthard earlier in the season, "you've got tyres, engine, drivers and chassis."

The chassis has been a problem since last year. This year's car is a development of the MP4/18, an innovative but unworkable design supposed to debut in Imola last year. The hope was the time spent developing the 18 would bear fruit with this year's car, but the flaws seem to have crossed over to the MP4/19. The problems include difficulties with the cooling system which have meant McLaren have been unable to incorporate many of the design features, such as a radical new carbon gearbox.

Aerodynamic flaws have also meant the team have been forced to run with very stiff rear suspension which causes the car to kick out at the rear unexpectedly, making it difficult to drive on the limit.

The fragile and underpowered Mercedes engine has not helped matters. It has blown several times this season already and there appears to be no way back this time around.

Williams, who won half of the last 10 races last season, should have been more successful. But in the winter the team chose to pursue a radical design path that has not provided the hoped for results.

The "twin keel" chassis, which gave small but significant aerodynamic benefits, necessitated a more complex front suspension set-up and so far it has been problematic for the team, with Juan Pablo Montoya and team-mate Ralf Schumacher struggling to wrestle the tricky FW26 anywhere near the elder Schumacher.

Williams haven't been helped by internal feuding between their drivers. It is rumoured that the team has been split into two camps, with designer Patrick Head supporting Montoya and chief operations engineer Sam Michael favouring Ralf Schumacher.

The internal strife has not been helped with Montoya's impending departure to McLaren at the end of the season and Ralf Schumacher's continuing contract strife which has mutated into strong rumours that the German will leave for Toyota for 2005.

All of which plays into Michael Schumacher's hands.

While the German's staggering performances this year have appeared to underline the paucity of talent elsewhere on the grid, the truth is both Montoya and Raikkonen are more than capable of duelling with the German for pace, points and prizes. It is their machinery that has failed them and stopped any real competition at the front of this year's grid.

And worse, there is no sign of any recovery for Ferrari's rivals. Michelin admit they have no answer to Bridgestone's superiority. McLaren have conceded defeat and confessed they will not find their way back this year, and both Williams drivers have hang-doggedly forecast nothing like last year's great leap forward. And while that is the case, Schumacher will continue to float around the world's circuits collecting ever more records.