Williams hopeful of strong season

"I think that all the testing that we have been doing show that we have a very competitive car in the FW33 and as long as we develop it quickly, which is what we are doing, I think we'll have a good year," said Michael on Thursday during the launch of Williams's livery for the 2011 season.

The team from Grove is aiming to return to the sharp end of the field after having not won a race since the 2004 season.

Michael admitted, however, that it was impossible to predict the competitiveness of teams right now.

"There's lot of speculation about where everyone is and within Formula 1 teams we have enormous amounts of data, lots of laptimes," said Michael.

"We know how the aero platform is, and we take photos of the cars, and we have no idea where everybody is. So the journalists don't have any chance to predict it."

He also insisted that being strong in winter testing will not necessarily translate into being competitive once the season begins.

"If you've got someone who looks strong today it may not be in Melbourne, or Malaysia or Shanghai because the rate of progression is very big," he added. "That's what comes with these big rules changes."