Sao Paulo, Brazil ? Nobody was able to stop Michael Schumacher in 2004. The Ferrari driver raced to his fifth straight Formula One championship and seventh overall.

And, despite more rule changes designed to nullify Schumacher’s advantages, don’t expect that to change in 2005.

Schumacher captured 13 of 18 races this season, and teammate Rubens Barrichello won two more. The result was the least competitive season in F1 history.

The 35-year-old German won 12 of the first 13 races — and he might have won in Monaco, too, except for a freak crash with Williams-BMW’s Juan Pablo Montoya.

Only three non-Ferrari drivers managed a victory — Montoya in Sunday’s season-ending Brazilian GP, Renault’s Jarno Trulli in Monaco and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen in Belgium.

Schumacher has won every season title beginning in 2000. Since then, F1 officials have changed qualifying rules trying to slow him. They’ve rejiggered the points system, altered testing rules and banned high-tech gizmos.

Nothing has worked.

So what’s up for 2005? More rule changes to lower costs, raise interest and try to stop Schumacher.

• Cars will be limited to the same set of tires for qualifying and race day. This will drop speeds with a much harder rubber compound reducing traction.
• Engines will be used for two races.


Ferrari's Michael Schumacher gets ready for practice at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Schumacher won 13 of 18 races this season, although he didn't win Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, making it the least competitive season in F1 history.

• Testing again will be reduced, a further move to cut costs.
• In 2006, 2.4-liter, V8 engines will be introduced to lower horsepower and costs, a move to help smaller teams. The current 3.0-liter, V10 engines will be eliminated by 2008.

“They (Ferrari) seem to be strong in every area, a step above everyone in every area,” said BAR-Honda’s Jenson Button, who finished third (85 points) in the overall standings behind Schumacher (148) and Barrichello (114).

“They are a very complete team, they have a lot of experience and they have just chipped away at it over the years.”

Ferrari also won the constructors’ championship in a runaway with 262 points followed by BAR-Honda (119), Renault (105), Williams-BMW (88), McLaren-Mercedes (69) and Sauber (34).

Ferrari already is preparing for next season’s opening race in Melbourne, Australia, in March.

“Certainly it will make it interesting to see how competitive we will be,” said Schumacher, who has won 83 times — far ahead of No. 2 Alain Prost (51). “You don’t know who is going to be able to do what kind of job.”

Montoya, who is leaving Williams, will team next season with Raikkonen at McLaren. It was an abysmal year for McLaren, which failed to deliver a reliable car until the season was half over.

Raikkonen, who finished second to Schumacher by just two points in 2003, failed to finish five of the first seven races in 2004.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Kimi next year and I think the position we are in for next year we could be really strong,” Montoya said.

“We now look forward to 2005, where we want to start the season in a strong position with Kimi and Juan Pablo,” McLaren team director Ron Dennis said.

Raikkonen finished seventh in the drivers’ standings and McLaren was fifth in the constructors’ competition, in which BAR took the runner-up spot behind Ferrari.

Button is a young talent, but he has yet to win a race in five seasons. He will stay with teammate Takuma Sato at BAR-Honda after losing a contract dispute to return to Williams.

Williams was up and down all season, hampered by the knowledge that both its drivers were leaving the team. In addition to Montoya, Ralf Schumacher is moving to Toyota.

Ralf Schumacher was involved in the season’s scariest moment when he crashed at the United States Grand Prix. He cracked two vertebrae and missed the next six races, but came back in Japan and finished second to his brother.

Renault, which used ’97 series champion Jacques Villeneuve in the final three races, will stick with Fernando Alonso next season. He will be joined by Giancarlo Fisichella, who replaces Trulli.

The Japanese GP was Michael Schumacher’s only victory in the final four races. He had spins in the other three and suffered a forgettable weekend at the sport’s newest showcase — the $300 million Shanghai International Circuit.

Sunday’s race was the last for Jaguar, which managed only two top-three finishes after joining the circuit in 2000. Parent company Ford said it couldn’t afford the sport.