Williams Refusing to Panic

Williams-BMW refused to panic after suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Ferrari in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix and insisted everything could change by Malaysia in two weeks' time.

Ferrari dominated the race with Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello securing them a one-two as Williams' pre-season hopes dimmed with fourth and fifth finishes for Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya respectively.

But Williams chief operations engineer Sam Michael said: "These things can change. We're not panicking. In 2001 we were in a similar position after Melbourne did a 1-2 in the next race. You have to take a bigger picture. The season is only one eighteenth old and there is a long way to go.

"It was difficult for us and we know there are a lot of things to improve but it is far from a bad result either."

Montoya started from third on the grid but was overtaken by Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the Renault and dropped to fifth after several problems during his mid-race pitstops. Schumacher went the other way as he climbed up from an eighth place grid spot to claim fourth place but Michael refused to give either driver a glowing report for the first day of the new term.

"I thought the drivers did okay," he said. "The package was not quick enough. But I think we could have been a bit more competitive and had a fight with Renault. Juan Pablo had no serious problems, but something not right with the clutch. He made a good getaway but had some slippage after that and we don't know. We have got to look into it.

"Ferrari, though...No chance! They were out of reach today. They were in a class of their own. We are not fast enough at the moment to do that. Now we are looking forward to the hot tracks in Malaysia and Bahrain."