Williams: AT&T deal will 'invigorate' team

Williams endured one of their worst seasons ever this year, scoring only a handful championship points as they look set to finish eighth in the constructors' points standing.

But team owner Williams exuded optimism as he spoke of the significance of the AT&T deal to his team.

"This announcement is very important to us not just because of its commercial aspects," Williams said in a telephone conference. "We are about to finish a very difficult year, and this agreement will refresh and invigorate our team.

"This partnership will lead us into what we hope will be a successful era. The deal is significant, as it's a long-term partnership, which means we have a much more reliable and consistent future ahead of us.

"We are short of success recently, but we have every intention to re-emerge as a successful Formula One team.

"AT&T is a world brand with massive reputation, and we're proud to be selected as one of its ambassadors. We are very proud of them, and in due course we hope they will be very proud of us."

Williams and AT&T would not reveal the extent of the deal, but AT&T's senior vice president of sales John Finnegan stated it was "a multi-year deal and a multi-million dollar deal."

Finnegan said AT&T, who had previously sponsored Jaguar Racing and most recently McLaren, were in talks with several other teams but decided to work with Williams because "both companies have a very significant heritage in their own fields."

"We're very proud of this deal,particularly because of the title sponsorship we are taking up," Finnegan commented. "This represents a new level of involvement for us in Formula One.

"We did explore other options, with other teams, but we believe the agreement with Williams represents a synergy between our brands, and we really want to work with Sir Frank Williams and the Williams people."

Williams are also set to announce extended deals with their current sponsors, and the team have also recruited key technical figures, as revealed by Autosport magazine this week.

On top of that, the team will be powered by Toyota engines next year - and Williams is convinced all the ingredients are in place to see a turnaround in his team's form.

"This year, we let ourselves down; now, we must do better," he said. "We have made a few important hirings in the technical department, and this is the beginning of several more partnerships that will be announced in the next few weeks.

"We also have a manufacturer engine next year, and we'll be effectively piggybacking on Toyota's R&D resources.

"We'll be in good shape next year - better than this year, for sure."

Williams said the team will hold their launch in January, but he emphasized there will be no radical changes to their current brand image.

"We'll unveil our new livery and new team identity in January - the design is now close to being determined, but it won't be much different to now. Our essential colours will remain blue and white," he said.