BMW WilliamsF1 has come a long way

The opening two races of the 2005 Formula One season has seen the BMW WilliamsF1 Team score ten points, courtesy of a fifth place finish for Mark Webber ain Australia and Nick Heidfeld's third place in Malaysia.

For WilliamsF1 team boss Frank Williams the performance of the team in these races has shown how the team has improved the FW27 since its launch back in February. There is still work to be done but Williams was confident that things will continue to improve. As for the teams drivers both Mark and Nick had impressed the team with their performances.

On the BMW WilliamsF1 web site Williams said: "I think the team has come a very long way since our first week of testing the FW27 in Valencia at the beginning of February. In Australia, nobody really showed their full potential, except maybe Renault. However, our result there was certainly much better than we expected. In Malaysia, we believe we made some progress and the race result was very pleasing for us and our partners."

"Malaysia was obviously disappointing for Mark but we’re positive he’ll achieve a better result in the next race. However, he will only be able to win races when the car can win races. We’ve always believed Mark is capable of winning in the right equipment. He’s certainly very focussed, very hard working and an outstanding team player."

"I must admit I was more than quite surprised at Nick’s performance in Malaysia! We know, as we discovered in winter testing, that Nick is very serious about his career. Hard work seems to appeal to him, and our engineers find his technical interest, and feedback, hugely valuable. It has unquestionably helped him to understand his car in the past two races. On Sunday, we saw a very good racing driver operating at the highest level and we are very much looking forward to seeing Nick on the podium many more times this season," the Briton concludes.

Another factor in the teams success has been the tyres supplied by tyre supplier Michelin. For Williams the contribution that Michelin has made can not be under stated.

Williams spoke of Michelin by saying: "I have to mention our tyre partner, Michelin. Michelin’s contribution to the team’s performance has always been a significant factor in any of our achievements. This season’s rule of one set of tyres per race has caused technical difficulties but Michelin seem to have risen handsomely to the challenge. They have been very impressive and we’re very happy to be working with them."

"We have to run at the front this year but we know we are still some way behind the best. They are constantly moving forward so it will depend very much on each team’s rate of development as to how the season unfolds. I will be attending the next race in Bahrain and look forward to witnessing some more thrilling racing like that seen in Malaysia."