Williams: Ferrari and McLaren closer now

The British and Italian teams dominated last season, winning every race, and appear to be on their own again in the fight for the world championship this year.

But although no one else is predicting being able to rival McLaren and Ferrari, Michael is adamant that the chasing pack will be much closer to the leading cars when the season starts in Melbourne next weekend.

"I think the gap to Ferrari and McLaren has closed," he said. "They have still definitely got an edge on the field, but it is a smaller edge than they had last year. I think the gap has halved to the front."

Michael believes that the fight behind McLaren and Ferrari for third place is too close to call at the moment, and even thinks it will move around throughout the course of the campaign.

"We are definitely in that pack," he said. "Some tracks we are up and sometimes others are up. It shows it is close. It is moving from one team to another - going from Jerez, Barcelona and Valencia. It is hard for us, but it's good for F1."

Williams appear keen to play down their expectations despite some strong performance in pre-season testing.

And although co-owner Patrick Head said earlier this week that the target was for podiums, Nico Rosberg is far more cautious.

"To be on the podium we rely on four cars braking down, so why should we say that?" he explained.

"If you need a stumble then it is better not to say it I think. Of course, it is the ambition to stand up there, and it is possible, but I prefer not to really speak about results where we depend on others."

He added: "I just want another good year. Last season was good and I want to build on that. The consistency was great last year from my side and I want to continue that. And enjoy my job."