Spyker expecting no quick turnaround

"We're taking a reasonably conservative approach at the start of the year to allow ourselves to make bigger gains at a later date," said technical director James Key. "We don't expect to go out there and make a massive step forward straight away.

"Again, longer-term planning has come into play, with Spyker being on board and Mike (Gascoyne) being here. We're following some of the philosophies we set up with the M16, but we're improving them.

"And obviously we have a new engine installation, and we have to do all the cooling. So there will be quite a few visual changes."

Spyker have signed former Renault and Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne to lead their new project.

The Dutch car maker took over from the struggling Midland team last season, and the outfit will switch to Ferrari engines for 2007 in the hope of moving forward after failing to score any points during 2006.

Although the Ferrari-powered car will not hit the track until next year, Key praised the Italian squad for their help so far.

"We've been over to Maranello a few times for various meetings, and they've been very accommodating and very flexible," Key added. "They understand that our time scale has been short because of the relatively late agreement, but they've understood that situation and been very supportive.

"They are a huge, championship-winning team, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's been very good."