`Renault has the best car, and Honda is next`
Michael Schumacher is not a favourite for the 2006 world championship, according to former three-time title winner, Niki Lauda.
Schumacher is upbeat about the season with his new 248 F1, but Lauda, the ex-team principal and racer, reckons Ferrari has improved but is not yet ready to reclaim the spoils.
"If you ask me," 57-year-old Lauda told the Munchner Abendzeitung newspaper, "(Schumacher) is not a title favourite. Rather, he has an outside chance, but I do think we he will win a race."

Lauda backs up the overwhelming paddock sentiment that Renault, Honda, Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes - roughly in that order - will dominate the 2006 pace.

He clarified: "But Renault has the best car, and Honda is next."

Fellow ex-racer and commentator, Britain`s Martin Brundle, agrees with Lauda that Schumacher might not figure in the final reckoning for 2006`s trophy.

He told the Sunday Times newspaper that, "in equal equipment, Schumacher would not now beat (Fernando) Alonso or (Kimi) Raikkonen."

Brundle, 46, added: "(In Brazil and Istanbul last year, Michael Schumacher) looked like a good driver rather than a superb one. We are reaching the end of an era."

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