Williams Duo Rue Poor Starts

Webber and Heidfeld had both qualified near the front of the grid but poor getaways left them stuck behind slower cars and unable to move up the order.

The duo's problems were further magnified by Webber having to turn his engine revs down because of concerns about its reliability, and Heidfeld nearly colliding with an overly-aggressive Ralf Schumacher. Heidfeld eventually finished ninth, one place ahead of Webber.

"I lost a couple of places off the line and we obviously have to improve our starts," said Heidfeld. "After that, Jarno held up the pack where I was for most of the time.

"I think towards the end of the race my pace was good enough to collect some points, but of course we want to be more competitive than just scoring points, so we must find more speed. I could catch up with Jarno and Ralf very quickly, but overtaking on this circuit was another matter.

"At the last pitstop Ralf Schumacher got in front of me by forcing me to brake hard and avoid a crash."

Webber added: "From the start, Trulli got past me straight away and so too did Sato, but I was able to recover this position at Tosa.

"After that I had to sit behind Jarno during the first stint, and it happened that we pitted on the same lap and I could not pass him.

"So I tried to pass Jarno on the track at the Variante Alta but while having a go, I had a big moment and let Villeneuve through. The last part of the race was difficult as I was struggling because the engine of my car was slowed down, having already run two GPs."

Technical director Sam Michael believed that the overall competitiveness of the FW27 had been masked by the fact Heidfeld and Webber were stuck in traffic - although he was well aware that the starting problems do need addressing.

"It is obviously both a disappointing result and day overall," said Michael. "We had a poor start and we spent the whole race in traffic.

"Clearly we have to improve this for the future. That said, the car's competitiveness was not as bad as it might have appeared due to the traffic but it's certainly not where we expected to be. We had no mechanical problems at all."