Michael enthused by 'fresh blood'

Current drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher will leave the team to join McLaren and Toyota respectively next year which forced Williams to choose two new drivers for 2005. Jaguar's Mark Webber signed with the team last month while Button caused controversy when he put pen to paper during the summer break.

Contract decisions aside, though, Michael believes the two will provide a long-term stability within the team as well as having enough experience to be competitive from the off.

"A real motivating force within the team is something we have lacked for the last twelve months," he told the team website. "Obviously we have two drivers at the moment that are off elsewhere, and although they have tried as hard as they can, they can never completely motivate the team to succeed in the same way as two fresh guys who know they are here for a long time.

"Obviously the feedback will help decide our direction, Mark has quite a strong character and so has Jenson, and we expect those two guys to drive this company hard," Michael added. "They are fresh blood, if you like, but they've also got enough experience under the belt - three or four years now - not to be 'green', so they know what is required to make the cars go fast and help us do that."