Williams want McLaren's second spot

After Ralf Schumacher's victory in the German Grand Prix three weeks ago, the Grove-based squad has moved to within just 10 points of its Mercedes-powered rival. The Williams team is determined to keep the pressure on over the last five races of the season in order to move up to second place in the standings behind runaway leaders Ferrari.

"We will keep fighting until the last race," Williams chief operations engineer Sam Michael told this week's Autosport magazine. "We have got the normal development programmes in place with ourselves, BMW and Michelin to help keep the pressure on our competition."

Overtaking its Woking-based rival will not be easy for Williams however, and despite the fact that David Coulthard is all but out of the battle for the drivers' championship, McLaren will still be fighting to net the constructor's trophy.

"On balance, McLaren is very strong," said Michael. "To be honest, I can't see its strength wavering in races. It is still 10 points ahead in the constructors' championship, so ultimately it is a better team than us at the moment and has done a better job so far.

"I expect McLaren to be a pretty major force compared to us in Hungary and also in Spa. And of the five races remaining, Michelin has only tested at Monza."

The other problem Michael envisages for Williams is the continuing dominance of Ferrari. The Italian team's lead stands at a whopping 52 points and while Michael Schumacher can wrap up the drivers' title this weekend, the German and team mate Rubens Barrichello will continue to score points.

"Ferrari is the strongest team at the moment and it will be taking points away from both of us. That can go either way," he said.