Williams FW23 launch: Bimmer goes for broke

Speaking at today's launch of the new FW23 at Silverstone, the former Ferrari racer, who masterminded BMW's return to F1 with the Williams team last year, said it was time to take a gamble or two.

"Last year we were a bit more conservative for the sake of the engine's reliability," said Berger. "This year, we are prepared to risk a bit more - it's the only way to close the gap to those in front of us. We want to improve our performance so as to be ready and waiting to pounce as soon as one of the Ferraris or McLarens run into problems."

On the flipside of pushing for more performance, Berger is aware that losing any reliability will invite teams like Jordan, British American Racing and Benetton to topple Williams from its third spot in last year's constructors' championship.

"I think they will all be right under our gearbox," added Berger. "If we make one mistake, then we'll be eaten by them."

Marc Gene has been testing Williams's FW22B at Barcelona this week, which is last year's car fitted with the 2001 BMW engine. He suffered a major engine problem on Thursday, but was quickest yesterday (Friday) despite a couple of mechnical failures which caused him to stop.

Like last year's FW22, which Ralf Schumacher claimed was the best F1 chassis he'd ever driven, the FW23 has been penned by chief designer Gavin Fisher and aerodynamics ace Geoff Willis. Although visually similar to last year's car, save for its revised colour scheme, the main changes have been at the rear end, where special attention has been paid to its aerodynamics.

"We had a reasonably successful season last year, particularly considering it was our first with BMW," said Fisher. "However, it was clear that we still needed to make considerable progress to regularly compete with, and ultimately beat, McLaren and Ferrari."