Michael Schumacher began his bid to retain his world championship crown in the same emphatic way he obtained it with a comprehensive victory at yesterday's Australian Grand Prix.

But the Ferrari number one's win was overshadowed by the death of a race marshal who was fatally injured by flying debris from a massive smash involving Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher.

The 50-year-old from Queensland was apparently struck by a wheel torn from Jacques Villeneuve's BAR after the French Canadian had struck the back of Ralf Schumacher's Williams.

The pair had been racing towards turn three when Schumacher seemed to needlessly slow. Villeneuve failed to react and struck the rear left wheel of the Williams, a collision that sent the BAR airborne and spinning sickeningly into the fencing. Miraculously, Villeneuve climbed unhurt from the twisted monocoque of his car, and as Schumacher checked on his fellow's driver's state, a circuit ambulance was already on its way to attend to the stricken marshal.

The accident, on lap five, overshadowed the remainder of a race in which Michael Schumacher demonstrated not only his dominance but also that of a reborn Ferrari team. The German's qualities have been well-documented, but now, allied to a Ferrari team capable of delivering both speed and solidity, it's hard to point to anyone else posing a consistent challenge to a march to a second title for him and his prancing horse outfit.

That was underlined by Mika Halkkinen's accident on lap 26. The Finn had been chasing hard, but while the pair had established a convincing gap back to third-placed David Coulthard, the gap between Hakkinen and Schumacher was also, for McLaren, a worrying four seconds and growing.

But if the Finn's speed deficit was a cause for concern, then the failure of the double world champion's suspension was an even greater worry. As the McLaren number one headed into turn 13, the right front wheel of his MP4-16 suddenly sat down as a strut gave way. The collapse propelled the Finn down an escape road and into a tyre wall. He walked groggily from the car and was assisted to a safety vehicle which took him to the circuit hospital where he was given the all clear, except for mild concussion.

McLaren honour was salvaged by Coulthard, who finished second after a daring move on Rubens Barrichello paid off on lap 34. But nothing could temper Hakkinen's disappointment at failing to finish his third Australian GP in a row.

"Something broke on the car, which caused me to go off the track and hit the barrier," said Hakkinen. "I hit the brakes and then lost control of the car. I went to the medical centre for a check-up, as something hit my helmet, but I'm fine. It was a shame, as we were looking good and our strategy might have given us a race win."

One man's burden is another's boon, however, and while McLaren will go to Malaysia hoping that the heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur's engine-breaking circuit will visit torment on Ferrari, Jordan will cast a thankful eye to heaven and pray for even more intemperate conditions. In short, this year's EJ11 looks a cracker. Although the team cursed the misfortune that saw Jarno Trulli retire on lap 33 with a misfiring engine, and voiced disgruntlement at the coming together of Heinz Harald Frentzen and Barrichello - a first-lap shunt that saw the German relegated to 16th - they can be massively encouraged by a car that appears both fast and reliable.

After Frentzen's shunt, the German clawed his way back into contention with an aggressive drive that underlined the confidence in the car the Jordan number had expressed on Saturday afternoon.

Ten laps from home and he was beginning to take chunks out of a four-second gap to Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. Fifth place beckoned and Frentzen pushed hard. And while the Swiss outfit's Petronas-badged Ferrari 049 engine had the legs of the Honda on the straights, Frentzen had acres of room in the braking areas to play catchup.

Heidfeld was up to the test, however, demonstrating that while he may have had a calamitous time last year, it was solely down to being transported to Planet Prost for a season. Returned to a world of reliable racing cars, the German once again displayed the talent that won him the 1999 F3000 title with room to spare.

Frentzen pushed and pressured, but the Sauber driver was calmness itself as he held off the Jordan.

Frentzen's push for fourth was not a racing move but a political necessity. Despite Jacques Villeneuve's exit from the race, ex-McLaren tester Olivier Panis, in the second BAR, was in fourth, a two-point balance. Any points deficit against their Honda rivals after the season opener would not look good.

Frentzen needn't have worried, however. After the race Sauber protested the result, claiming Panis had passed Kimi Raikkonen under yellow flags. The Swiss outfit's protest was upheld and the sole BAR was dropped to seventh.

The ruling pushed Frentzen to a two-point fifth place, which puts Jordan in fourth place in the constructors' championship, behind Sauber, for whom Raikkonen drove a wonderful race.

The 21-year-old Finn joined Sauber under a storm of protest about his lack of race experience, but yesterday he drove with confidence, maturity and, most tellingly, skill to score a point on his grand prix debut.