Williams have Ferrari in their sights

By Andrew Benson
Motorsport editor

The Williams' distinctive nose has drawn mixed reaction Ferrari team 'best ever'

The Williams team are not known for making brash predictions about their chances of success - and they are not about to start now.

But there is an unmistakeable sense of confidence about them on the eve of the new Formula One season.

Having let the world championship slip through their fingers in 2003, team owners Frank Williams and Patrick Head are determined to make amends this year - and they believe they have the car to do it.

The BMW-engined FW26 will not win any beauty contests, but the purposeful look of its radical nose design reflects the mood of the team.

Williams himself is clearly a little sensitive about the number of times his team's new talisman has been called ugly even before it has run in anger for the first time.

"There has been a lot of fuss about it, but it's not ugly," he contends with a hint of pique. "It's just not pretty."

Head, the team's technical director, is more sanguine about the car's appearance, having been persuaded of its underlying attractiveness by the aerodynamic advantages the basking shark nose will bring.

"It isn't an item of beauty," he admits. "But it comes out on top of all the things we have run in the wind tunnel.

Ferrari have raised the game - they are such a formidable team Frank Williams

"It's a small margin, but the margin is there - and F1 cars these days are all about bolting together small margins [of improvement]."

Whatever they think of their car's looks, both men believe the FW26 will give them a real chance of ending a title drought that stretches back to 1997 - an eternity for such a successful team.

But neither are under any illusions that they will have the tracks to themselves in 2004.

Head and Williams admit to being very impressed by the new Renault and BAR cars.

And they emphasise that only a fool underestimates McLaren.

But both agree on who start as favourites.

"We've got a good car," says Williams, "but I would suspect the Ferrari will still be the car to beat, because of their position, their knowledge and their capabilities. They are very well resourced. It's a fantastic machine."

So fantastic, in fact, that Head and Williams believe Ferrari have raised F1 to a standard never seen before.

Head and Williams have worked hard to reach Ferrari's level

The Italian team have won the last four drivers' championships with Michael Schumacher as well as the last five constructors' titles, and Williams know it will take something special to beat them.

And if they were to win the title, beating Ferrari and Michael Schumacher in the process, they would count that as the greatest of all their achievements since they started their partnership in 1977.

Given that they have won seven drivers' titles and nine constructors' championships in that time, that is some compliment to Ferrari.

"It is harder now," Williams says. "Ferrari have raised the game. They are such a formidable team.

"We haven't done that well in the last few years, to be fair. The buck stops with me - you've got to have all the correct people in all the correct places all of the time, and obviously we haven't had."

Head adds: "To beat Schumacher and the current Ferrari team will be a real achievement and whoever does it will have done an amazing job.

"[It is] the combination of [technical director] Ross Brawn, [sporting director] Jean Todt, [chief designer] Rory Byrne's experience and inventiveness, [engine boss] Paolo Martinelli and his group and Michael Schumacher, and the leadership he projects to the team, both in and out of the car.

"That is a real class act that shows no sign of getting lazy or idle - almost the opposite. The better they do, the harder they work.

I would be surprised if one team goes out and dominates - we all know how boring that is Patrick Head Williams technical director

"I've never seen an act like that which has sustained itself in all the time I have been in F1.

"Usually in that situation someone pays the golden egg for someone to disappear, but they've all stayed there. And one has to look to Michael for that.

"I don't think Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne would have stayed in that position for such a long time were it not for Michael, where they know whatever work they do is going to have his total application and commitment.

"I think this year there is the potential for them to be beaten, but if anyone does they will have done a fantastic job.

"We have beaten him in a straight fight in the past, but we haven't beaten Ferrari operating to the standard they have since 2000. It's a real challenge for us."

That challenge is given an added edge by the fact that it is personal.

Ferrari's top people have raised F1 to a whole new level, according to Williams

Head, in particular, has made it clear he has little admiration for some of the political tactics that Ferrari have employed to protect their position in recent years - and last year's late-season row over tyres, provoked by the champions, still smarts.

Nor does he appreciate the way Ferrari ran F1 like their own personal plaything, fixing Grands Prix and not allowing their drivers to race, when they had such a huge performance advantage in 2002.

Head says: "My impression is there will be at least four and probably five teams competing for wins in 2004.

"I certainly think we'll be one of those, and I think it will be a very interesting and a very tough championship.

"I would be surprised if one team goes out and dominates. We all know how boring that is - particularly if that one team goes and fixes the races."

For Williams, revenge, when it comes, will be sweet indeed.