MELBOURNE -- Ferrari's Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher got the upper hand once again at the weekend in an extraordinary first race of the season in Australia.

But the German expects far more of a fight in future.

"I would assume that it's going to be a much tighter battle from now on," said the four-time world champion after his third win in a row in Melbourne -- and driving last season's F2001 car as well. "If you remember in Brazil (last year), Ralf was giving me a very hard time and driving away," said Schumacher, whose next race is Malaysia followed by Brazil.

"Things can change very quickly around and I wouldn't see what we have seen today as a real measurement for what happens in the future."

Younger brother Ralf was not able to give Michael any problems Sunday after starting on the second row and taking out Ferrari's pole man Rubens Barrichello with a first corner crash that culled almost half the field.

That incident ensured the race could never be held as truly indicative of form, with some drivers lasting mere seconds and Minardi's Australian Mark Webber finishing fifth on his remarkable debut.

Big contenders
Qualifying was also far from conclusive, with rain preventing some drivers from getting the most out of their cars and giving Barrichello a lucky pole.

And yet the podium, as far as the teams were concerned, was entirely predictable and pointed the way ahead -- Ferrari, Williams, McLaren. The three big contenders were all there and will be there time and time again this season.

This time it was Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams and Kimi Raikkonen for McLaren. But Barrichello, Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher and McLaren's David Coulthard will enter the reckoning soon enough.

"You can't say, as we know from past history, that it's decided after the first race. There's a lot that's going to happen this year," Coulthard said. "There's going to be situations where the Michelin tire just outclasses the Bridgestone and then the Ferrari could find itself down in fifth place."

However the statistics show that, since 1996 when Melbourne became the first race of the season, the winner in Australia has been champion four out of six times.

Avoiding carnage
But tires, as well as luck in avoiding the carnage, were crucial in Sunday's race and Ferrari had the upper hand with Bridgestone over Williams and McLaren on Michelin.

That gave Schumacher's rivals plenty of food for thought.

"It drove around the outside like I was parked there and then just drove into the distance," said second-place Montoya of the Ferrari. "I thought we were going to be competitive and as soon as he got (the right tire) temperatures there was nothing to do."

"I can't deny it, it's not good that they (Ferrari) have been so strong here in qualifying, in wet conditions and obviously in the race," said Coulthard, last year's championship runner-up who failed to finish. "I think Michael was probably just running at a canter."

Ferrari brought their old car -- or at least an upgraded version of the car Schumacher used to win the last race of 2001 -- to Australia because of reliability concerns about the new one and the bet paid off.

The question now is how long they keep on using it.

"Obviously we would like to take the car, the new car, as soon as possible, as soon as we can find out it is better and as soon as we find out it is reliable," Schumacher said. "We cannot judge yet when that is going to be the case. We will be testing all next week, and from there on we can decide what happens in the future."