Cosworth aims to impress Williams early on

Williams signed an engine deal with Cosworth for one year only, and the team are paying Cosworth for the supply - something that is weighing heavily on Williams's budget.

The team are expected to make a switch to Toyota engines in 2007, in a deal that will see Williams receive the engines for free.

But Cosworth CEO Tim Routsis believes his company be competitive enough to convince Williams they are better off staying with Cosworth.

And he said: "My job as head of Cosworth is to deliver the sort of performance in the early part of the year that makes it bloody hard for Williams to want to go anywhere else."

Moreover, Routsis is certain the Cosworth V8 will be a match to that of well-funded manufacturers such as Toyota, BMW, Honda or Renault.

"Yes, I think we can," Routsis replied when asked if Cosworth can match the manufacturers in F1 today. "I think it is very important that we recognise that the ability to spend money is quite different from ability, full stop.

"Having a very large budget does give you the ability to make a lot of mistakes, but it does not massively protect you against an organisation that may come upon the right answer through sheer blind luck or ability.

"Cosworth has been competing against all these manufacturers in F1 today all around the world, and I think it is fair to say that we have always had a lesser budget than the opposition, and we have pretty consistently demonstrated the ability to take the fight to them and win our fair share.

"In the longer term, I don't expect the ability of Cosworth to maintain competitiveness with the rest of the manufacturers to be an issue."

But Routsis admitted it was too soon to determine which engine has the upper hand. "The picture is still unclear," he said.

"My best opinion is that at the moment we are giving away very little to anybody, if anything.

"But it will become much clearer in the run up to Bahrain."