Highlights

Williams say they can climb back up F1 mountain

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-09-15 10:24

Former champions Williams believe they can reclaim their place among Formula One's elite despite what founder Frank Williams calls an "unblinkingly shocking" season.

The British-based team, whose last title came with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in 1997, have not scored a point in their last 10 races -- their worst run of form in 30 years.

After Australian Mark Webber and Germany rookie Nico Rosberg again drew blanks in last weekend's Italian Grand Prix at , Williams are languishing eighth of the 11 teams in the championship.

"It's the worst we've been since...(co-founder) Patrick (Head) and I started in 1977," Williams told reporters recently.

"The lowest we've ever been since 1977 I'm pretty certain is fifth so eighth is just unblinkingly, humiliatingly shocking."

"It is much more difficult now, I'm not crying on this, we want to beat the guys and we can -- but there is some very good opposition and it knows what its doing, there are six manufacturers.

"That's the mountain to climb for us, but it can be done."

Williams, nine times constructors' champions since 1980, have not won a race since Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in Brazil at the end of 2004. Although they ended the 1978 season ninth, they did not go so many races without scoring. Only the top six got points in those days.

The team have been using Cosworth V8 engines this season after the split with BMW last year but have signed a deal with Toyota for 2007.

RELIABILITY PROBLEM

While the team have not been uncompetitive in terms of speed, with both drivers qualifying in the top 10, they have been let down by a lack of reliability.

"Clearly our product is the problem and we have a pretty straightforward idea of what we must do," said Williams. "I can't talk about what we're going to do but we just know what we need to do to make a faster car.

"Some of the reasons why we have failed in races is lack of adherence to correct internal process," he added.

"No one's left anything undone, that I'm aware of."

Webber will move on next year, after signing for Red Bull, and Williams will have Rosberg partnered by Austrian veteran Alexander Wurz.

Wurz, 32, has tested extensively for McLaren and Williams but has raced only once since 2000 when he filled in for Montoya at McLaren last year.

The prospect of greatly reduced testing after the end of the season, with Bridgestone becoming sole supplier to all the teams, will also make it harder to catch up quickly.

"For a team in the mire, and also at the same time changing their engine and who have got many new technical matters to deal with, it's really (tough)," said Williams.

"We can keep up (financially)," he added. "It's hard work but it is do-able."

Honda's Jenson Button, the Briton who made his race debut with the team in 2000 and last year bought himself out of a contract that would have obliged him to race for them again this season, was supportive.

"It's not good to see a team like Williams not performing as they have done in the past," he said at Monza. "They've had a lot of reliability problems so when they have been quick they haven't been able to get the result.

"It's obviously very disappointing for them but I'm sure they will get back up there. It's not going to be an easy turnaround though, which is the reason why I wanted to stay where I was.

"I think it's shown that not having a manufacturer through the season has been tough for them, because they were quick at the start of the year."