Williams working towards next year

There may only be four races left to run this season but every lap of track action counts towards not only the championship but also 2005. Ferrari may have wrapped up the titles for this year but there are still points to be scored and developments to be made. Williams has had some bad luck lately, including an untimely double non-finish at Spa, but work goes on.

Sam Michael.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

"Quite obviously we've had a few problems in the last few races," said technical director Sam Michael. "But it's starting to settle down a bit now and we're starting to put in place directions for next year."

"Even if you start to lose the battle for the Championship -- and obviously the Championship is gone and it's even beginning to look like finishing second or even third is not a reality -- the way you finish a year is still extremely important."

"You need to continue development, and any development on this year's car we can generally carry over to next year's car. You never turn the year into a defined development year, it's all about learning and pushing hard this year to help next year as well."

Williams has been testing at Monza, ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the circuit next weekend. "We will have some mechanical and engine improvements on the cars for this race," said Michael. "In addition, the team has focused on brake work at the Monza test this week in preparation for the hard braking the cars will experience during the race."