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Williams target 'respectable' season

Williams technical director Sam Michael says his team's target for 2009 is simply to be 'respectable' as they bid to move themselves back nearer the front of the grid

The Grove-based team endured mixed fortunes throughout last year, enjoying podium finishes but also delivering lacklustre performances on some weekends.

But having diverted resources early onto their 2009 machine after realising they would not make enough progress last year, Michael is upbeat about the potential for the campaign ahead.

"The main thing is continue improving our performance and make sure we are respectable for the budget and efficiency that we have," said Michael in a press conference on the day the team's new FW31 was unveiled.

"Williams have won Grands Prix before, we've won championships before, and everyone in the company wants to return to that level. Our target is to do the best that we can with the resources that we have, and I'm sure that we can hold the team up in a good light."

Michael revealed that the team switched resources to 2009 almost as soon as last season started - despite the podium finish for Nico Rosberg at the Australian Grand Prix.

"We wrapped up a lot of our resources around April 2008 and that had an adverse effect on FW30 development," he said. "You could see that in the latter half of 2008.

"But we took that decision because we thought our best chance of closing the gap was in 2009, and we didn't think we could achieve that in 2008. Whether that pays off or not, I don't know. It's anyone's guess."

He added: "Our competitiveness in the second half of the season was affected by our development for 2009. A lot of the other teams developed right up to the last race and you could still see new parts, particularly on the McLaren, going on in Brazil.

"We, in the last ten races, didn't update anything on the car because we didn't have the resources to work on both programmes to the maximum. Every car has its different characteristics and strengths and weaknesses, but development rate is the key to everything.

"If you change the development on one car, you can't do that without having an effect on the other. Because the cars in Formula One now are so heavily refined, there are no crap teams in Formula One anymore. All the teams are very well structured and have a very good understanding of the car. So the differentiators you are looking for are tiny."

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