Williams taking it race by race

With two one-two finishes in the last two races, suddenly the words Williams and world championship have been seen together in the same sentence more often than before. The team is undeniably putting in some strong performances but despite the ...

With two one-two finishes in the last two races, suddenly the words Williams and world championship have been seen together in the same sentence more often than before. The team is undeniably putting in some strong performances but despite the recent victories, the general view from Williams is cautious. The season is getting on but there's still much that could happen.

The podium: champagne for race winner Ralf Schumacher.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

"There are six races before the end of the year, so quite a long way to go and we will take it race-by-race," said technical director Patrick Head. "We really started a long way behind and everyone has worked really hard. It is beginning to come together."

Team boss Frank Williams was naturally pleased about Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya's one-two in France and praised the improvements from the team and of tyre partner Michelin. But he too reminded that there is still some way to go.

"It's certainly a very strong performance, but there is a long way to go to the end of the championship," he said. "It shows that the developments we have made to the engine, car and tyres are working very well. We're obviously doing the right thing at the moment."

"We had a very good tyre from Michelin, but it has been the other way around with Ferrari before. That's the beauty of F1, it can all change around very quickly."

Not so long ago Ralf Schumacher had counted himself out of the title fight but now he is only eleven points behind brother Michael and three behind second placed Kimi Raikkonen. "There will be plenty of circuits which don't suit us but we have a long test ahead of us (this week in Barcelona)," said Ralf.

"We are going in the right direction and hopefully we can continue it. As far as a title challenge is concerned, in Formula One you can never be too confident but every driver would love to win a world title. I have waited a long time and it might be possible this year."