Williams calms troubled waters

Much has been made recently of the troubled relationship between Williams and engine partner BMW and team principal Frank Williams has made an effort to calm things down. At a press conference in Montreal on Saturday, along with BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen, Williams spoke about recent comments made by the team's engineering director Patrick Head.

Head was quoted in the Italian press as saying Theissen was unprofessional for blaming the lack of performance on Williams, and he allegedly questioned Theissen's honesty. Unsurprisingly, BMW and Theissen were not terribly impressed about this and Williams attempted to distance the team from Head's comments.

"I can assure you in all my time with Mario that I have never wanted to say he is dishonest, because he isn't," said Williams. "The remarks made by Patrick were private and absolutely do not reflect the position of this company in respect of Mario or, just as importantly, to BMW."

"I have consistently said, and so has Patrick and (technical director) Sam Michael, that we wish to see ourselves for many years into the future with BMW and that is 100 percent clear in my mind. All we want is the world's best engine to put in the world's best racing car."

Theissen added: "It is certainly not helpful to have comments like this in an environment like Formula One. If the comment was from a commentator you just could ignore it but Patrick is a part team owner and he carries responsibility for his people and for the team."

It's expected that BMW will make a decision later this month whether to supply engines to Sauber next year, or perhaps even take over the Swiss team. Talks are ongoing in regard to an engine supply but both sides have been tight-lipped about the possibility of a buy-out.

Whether BMW will continue its partnership with Williams remains to be seen but for the moment the relationship appears to be on slightly less rocky ground.