Barrichello delighted at first day back

Despite a balance issue and having his day's running cut short by a throttle problem, Barrichello was hugely upbeat about the potential he has seen at his new team after experiencing the FW32 for the first time.

"It is the first day at school," said the very relaxed Barrichello after testing had finished. "I enjoyed being out there with them. You look at the times and say, 'wow, we are almost two seconds faster than a Ferrari' and you can wish that you had that time, but to be honest with you - you cannot predict much nowadays.

"If you take 10kg of fuel, or full tanks, you are talking about almost four seconds - so it is going to be dead easy for someone to get a sponsor and say that the car is faster in a way.

"We do have a balance problem with these new tyres. We are having some understeer on the car, so with that amount of fuel we were running, and the lack of balance, I kind of liked the day. We were struggling a bit too much with the understeer, but just trying to dial it out. It was a very good first day."

Barrichello believes his experience will be key to helping drive Williams forwards this year as it seeks its first race win since 2004.

"You have got to aim for the best," said Barrichello. "I am a person who keeps my feet on the ground. I am a hard worker so if the car is capable of doing good, I will do good. If the car is capable of doing regular positions and then improving, then that is where I am going to be. It all depends on what the car is capable of doing.

"I am up to it. I am very motivated. And my experience will count - so I am going to give them all the feedback possible for us to be winners. But if that is going to be the case then we have to wait and see. It is too unpredictable."

Barrichello was also encouraged by the early signs from the Cosworth engine, which was having its first track running.

"For the first day it was very good," he said. "We could quite clearly say that we were not running on our limits, because it was the first day out of the dyno running on the track. So we are not running on full power and there is lots to be gained.

"So I am keeping myself fairly open and my feet on the ground. There is lots to be gained from the car and from the engine as well. So far we ran reliably. We did have a small technical issue with the throttle late on, which stopped the engine, and it was too late to make a change and go again. But it was good."