Williams Set for Team Restructure

Williams are preparing a team reorganisation to fight back against Ferrari's domination of Formula One, with long time technical director Patrick Head taking a step back and chief operations engineer Sam Michael taking on more responsibility at the track - as reported yesterday by Atlas F1.

Williams plan to make the announcement later today, when they unveil their new wind tunnel, but Head - long-time technical director and part-owner of the BMW-powered team - confirmed that his role would change. "I don't think any role that I take will be lesser but we are looking at internal reorganisation," he explained. "That will mean a slight change of duties but I suspect that I shall be working just as hard if not harder but doing slightly different activities."

The team had hoped to set the pace this year but Ferrari's six-times World Champion Michael Schumacher has instead been unbeatable in the first five races before crashing in Monaco on Sunday. Renault's Jarno Trulli was triumphant in Monaco but, even without Schumacher to contend with, Williams failed to get on the podium in a race they won last year.

Drivers Ralf Schumacher and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya have both said the 'tusked' Williams FW26 car is not quick enough. The team, runners-up in 2003, lie fourth in the championship, 53 points adrift of Ferrari.

"The change of positions is the result of decisions made by me six weeks ago in response to the start of the season," said Head, denying any pressure from BMW. "It was clear that we intended to be fully competitive this year and it is very clear that we are not.

"We think we need to do a bit of restructuring and redistribute some responsibilities."

Head, who has been team boss Frank Williams's partner since the 1970s, said he would not be attending all the races in future just as he has done in the past.