Before the start of yesterday's San Marino Grand Prix the script read: In Ferrari's back yard, Schumacher stands on the top step of Imola podium, spraying champagne in the direction of thousands upon thousands of scarlet-clad tifosi as he accepts his victor's trophy.
Well, two out of three ain't bad. The tifosi were there in their legions, and there was a Schumacher, spraying the champagne and accepting the laurels. But this time it wasn't the right Schumacher.
For yesterday, younger brother Ralf ushered in a new age, not just for Williams, who took their first win since 1997, but for a plethora of Formula One participants.
First win for the 25-year-old in 70 starts and the first time brothers have taken GP wins; first victory for BMW since Gerhard Berger claimed the top step in Mexico some 13 years ago for Benetton; and the first win this season for new tyre warriors Michelin.
Talk of a championship challenge may be a little premature, but the message the younger Schumacher delivered yesterday was emphatic nonetheless. Williams, nine-time winners of the constructors' title, are back. A perfect start and a breakneck charge down the inside of pole-sitter David Coulthard's McLaren were enough to put the Williams man in the lead by the time the wheel-spinning Coulthard and second-placed McLaren team-mate Mika Hakkinen had focused their attention, and thereafter Schumacher, for once reminiscent of his brother in his command of a race, was untouchable.
Coulthard, struggling for balance on tyre sets of vastly different quality, attempted to keep pace, but as the laps clicked off, heading through the scheduled two stops, Schumacher continued to pull away, and even extended the gap when on full tanks and cold tyres.
It's been a long time coming for both Schumacher and Williams. The German began his career at Jordan where, after a rocky start and a tempestuous year with team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, he became a regular points scorer, aiding the team through the miseries of 1998 by scoring their first point of a disastrous season with a sterling drive at Silverstone.
When the team finally recovered towards the end of that year, Schumacher had his and Jordan's maiden grand prix win in his grasp as he approached the end of a similarly rainlashed Belgian Grand Prix in second place, but quicker and in better shape than leading teammate Damon Hill. Schumacher, though, was told to hold station and Hill took the victory. The order still grates.
He parted company with Jordan at the close of that season and headed for Williams.
Last year Schumacher began to sow the seed of yesterday's victory, making BMW the surprise package of 2000 by scoring 24 points en route to a fifth place championship finish. Now, just four races into 2001, he has taken half that figure and it seems Williams must now be considered genuine third contenders alongside Ferrari and McLaren.
"I've been waiting for this for five years, and who knows it might be the beginning of something," he said. "We were pretty thrilled with the last three races but had a bit of bad luck though."
Jordan's drivers went some way to making sure that the team remain in the championship by taking three points, with Jarno Trulli taking fifth and Heinz Harald Frentzen grabbing the remaining point.
Trulli climbed as high as third at the start but was dropped down the field after an early, and long, pit stop gave his rivals a chance to steal a march on him.
It was a less happy day for Michael Schumacher. The championship leader, starting in an ill-fitting fourth place, developed problems right from the off, and he was eventually forced out by a faulty brake calliper damaged by a burst tyre.
That left the way open for David Coulthard to move into joint leadership of the championship with Schumacher, the Scot's second place handing him the vital six points.
