Michael Schumacher reckons Ferrari will be challenged by McLaren, Renault and BMW-Sauber this season.
Seven-times world champion also expects long-term challenge from Honda
Michael Schumacher reckons Ferrari will be challenged by McLaren-Mercedes, Renault and BMW-Sauber during the 2008 Formula One World Championship.
Last season, Ferrari clinched the Drivers' Championship title after Kimi Raikkonen gained a narrow one-point advantage over McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the final race of the year in Brazil.
The Scuderia also claimed the constructors' title after McLaren were disqualified from the standings for their role in the so-called 'Stepneygate' spying affair.
However, this season, Ferrari will have more teams that McLaren to deal with, according to Schumacher, with both BMW-Sauber and a resurgent Renault also up there fighting for wins.
BMW-Sauber improved dramatically last year, finishing the championship in second place while Renault hope to bounce back following their disappointing 2007 with Alonso - who won back-to-back titles with them in 2005 and 2006 - back in the fold.
Closing the gap
"I would expect to see a very close fight between the two main teams but then I would see Renault and BMW able to close the gap and they may enter into the top two," the seven-times world champion said.
Schumacher also predicted that Honda will also be fighting for honours in the long run, now former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn is on board as team principal.
"Ross is the perfect man to make Honda come back in the right direction because he is very capable. But it will take time," Schumacher added.
Brawn worked alongside Schumacher when the German took each of his world titles, first at Benetton (1994-95) and then at Ferrari (2000-04).
Although recently back in the cockpit in a testing capacity, Schumacher retired from racing at the end of 2006 - at the same time Brawn left the Italian marque.
