Ralf Calls for Reliability to Fight for Wins

German driver Ralf Schumacher is confident a more reliable Williams car will allow the Grove-based squad to win races right from the start of the season.

The Williams team finished in third place in last year's Constructors' Championship after scoring four Grand Prix wins, and are tipped as one of the favourites to fight against current World Champions Ferrari for the title in 2002.

Williams suffered no less than 12 retirements due to mechanical problems in 2001, and Schumacher, who scored three of the four victories of his team last year, believes that if the new BMW-powered FW24 is reliable, then they will be able to win right from the start.

"We hope to be competitive in Melbourne," Schumacher told F1 Racing magazine in an interview. "The most important thing in the opening races is to have the most reliable car. If we have the most reliable car, then we'll have a good chance to win.

However, Schumacher, who will start his fourth Formula One season at Williams, knows that the task of winning the title will not be easy, and he believes Ferrari and McLaren will be hard to beat.

"It's a very important year for the team, because people are expecting a lot of us - maybe too much," said Schumacher. "As a team, we'll try our hardest - though we shouldn't set our goals too high.

"To beat them [Ferrari] is a pretty high goal. But you must not forget McLaren - we finished third in the Constructors' Championship last year, not second. After what I've seen of their launch, they seem to have a strong package.

"It's definitely going to be a very tough year."