Williams vows to reel in the big two

The Williams-BMW outfit has emerged as the strongest contender to the top two after impressive performances in the first three races of the season. At Interlagos, Ralf Schumacher started from the front row, while team mate Juan Pablo Montoya set the F1 world alight with an impressive overtaking manoeuvre to take the lead from Ferrari's Michael Schumacher before he was taken out when lapping a tail ender.

"Following the promising race in Brazil," said Williams, "I feel that Imola will present the team with another opportunity to see if we really can close that gap between the cars leading the championship and the rest of the field."

Praise for Montoya's move on Schumacher has been far reaching and has gone some way to silencing criticism for Sir Frank after he replaced Jenson Button with the Colombian for 2001. The Grove-based team's technical director Patrick Head believes former Champ Car king Montoya has shown he is not afraid to take the fight to the F1 establishment.

"I understand Michael is not too impressed with Juan Pablo's overtaking manoeuvre," said Head, "but I have seen Michael doing worse. I think Michael is worried. He has recognised that there is someone out there who is as tough as him."

Montoya alone, however, cannot take all the credit for the Williams's upturn in performance and this year's BMW engine is an obvious improvement on its bulky 2000 predecessor. Although the perceived gap to McLaren and Ferrari has been narrowed, BMW motorsport director Dr Mario Theissen believes the team needs to concentrate on scoring more points after only once making it to the finish of a race so far this year.

"The three overseas races have clearly proved that we have managed a big development jump compared with last year," he said. "The gap to both the top teams has pleasantly decreased. But the team cannot be happy with a total of just two points. Should our drivers not be involved in further accidents [at Imola], our points score should increase."

Despite the fact that Montoya's stint at the front came to an early end when he was taken out by Jos Verstappen seconds after lapping him, he remained upbeat immediately after the race and is looking to pick up from where he left off this weekend.

"After the performance in Brazil I think we definitely proved what we can do and I am looking forward to giving it another go at Imola," said Montoya.