The launch of the BMW WilliamsF1 FW26 finally presented to the public the car that the team is placing their championship hopes on. The initial reactions ranged from concerns as to whether have they got it right with design of the radical new front nose to one's of excitement over the look of the car and its potential.

For me I was one of the latter feeling that for the first time in a long while we
witnessed a car that did not fit into the more familiar mould, such as last years FW25. But is this the car that will take the team onto their long overdue championship. Can both the FW26 and the team take on Ferrari and take over their leading position? Team boss Sir Frank Williams spoke at the launch. He said: "Six years have passed since we last won a title and that hurts. I love the anticipation that comes with each new season. Neither (Technical Director) Patrick Head nor myself have ever been one of those people that live in the past so we will hopefully go into this season with a competitive car from the outset.

"The FW25 didn't appear to be a Championship-winning car at the start of the season but the team worked exceptionally hard to develop it into a title challenger. Unfortunately we didn't claim a tenth title with it, but we made enough progress to close the gap to Ferrari. Now we have to move a step further forward."

In looking at the teams championship prospects one has to consider how they stand in the key elements that are required to be a successful Formula One team. These include aspects such as the functioning of the team, the teams funding, the 2004 chassis and engine, the team drivers, and tyres.

For the WilliamsF1 team 2003 was a season where there were several hiccups in particular in the area of pitstops. There were times of stress within the team such as the well reported incident with Juan Pablo and Sam Michael having a "strong" discussion between themselves during the French GP. Despite these moments the team has made very few changes in the area of team personnel preferring to improve what they already have in place. One man who is well placed to know about the teams operations is Operations Manager Sam Michael.

At the launch he said: "We have made no major changes from last year. There were, which was to be expected, slight personnel movements in and out, but nothing major." Looking at this it would seem that the team is confident as the performance of their team personnel. The team time has had time to examine their 2003 shortcomings and to improve on them.

Any analysis of the operation of the team must now include the fact that there is far greater co-operation between BMW and the WilliamsF1 team. For example the casings and other components of the new seven-speed transmission are cast and machined by a BMW subsidiary rather than by the WilliamsF1 team. The skills that BMW can bring to the table certainly should enhance the operation of the team. The integrating of staff from both companies is certainly going to help. Frank Williams said: "The new contract (between WilliamsF1 & BMW) takes us to greater levels of integration. I'm confident it will continue to yield significant dividends."

As for the teams funding, even though it does appear that the issue of drivers salaries in particular Ralf Schumacher may be causing the team some issues at the moment, the team is well financed and has been able to bring in several new sponsors to the team including Budweiser, NiQuitinCQ, and recently the MMO2 mobile communications company and the sporting clothing company Puma. The team has maintained their list of sponsors from 2003 with HP still been the teams main sponsor. Again joining the team for 2004 are companies such as Castrol, Petrobras, Accenture, Allianz, FedEx, and Reuters.

Looking at this list of major multi-national companies the teams financial situation looks to be secure. The name missing from this list is that of BMW but with the team finalising an extension to their contract the WilliamsF1 team will have the financial and engineering support of BMW for quite some time.

Moving onto the drivers before discussing the chassis and engine the WilliamsF1 team is faced with the knowledge that one of their star drivers, Juan Pablo Montoya, will be leaving at the end of 2004. Some concerns have been raised as to whether he would be left out of any major developments during the course of the 2004 season.

Also questions have been asked as to whether or not the WilliamsF1 team would want to see Juan Pablo win the title only to take it with him to McLaren in 2005. Quite simply for any Formula One team or driver not to fight all season long to secure a championship is out of the question regardless of what may occur the following season. Titles are hard to come by. Juan Pablo has expressed his determination to win the drivers title in 2004. As for Ralf there is uncertainty regarding his future with the team but in 2004 he is looking to
take the title away from his brother Michael.

As for the tyre situation the WilliamsF1 team and its drivers are very confident of their prospects as they go into another season with tyre supplier Michelin. Ralf spoke of the tyre situation saying: "Certainly you wouldn't want to be on Japanese tyres at the moment; being on the French tyres is the right decision."

Now to the new FW26 chassis ad its BMW P84 engine. The most significant change in the area of chassis and engine has been the change to the rules for 2004 that now require the teams to adopt a single engine per weekend format. The teams must now have an engine life of 800Kms.

The new P84 engine has been running for some time now and the view is that even though the engine has been made more reliable it has not been at the cost of significant amounts of performance. BMW's Dr Mario Theissen explained: "We thought we would need a completely new engine, but then we realised that P83 could be re-engineered to meet the new regulations. More importantly, we thought we would pay penalties of 10% on power, revs and weight, but we are reckoning on less now."

As to how things are progressing he added: "We are flat out I would say and I'm quite confident we're well on track. The programme is running well, we have had some good tests already, and although we are certainly not where we need to be in March in terms or reliability and not in terms of power either, we are quite well on track and we have covered a lot of mileage already.

"It's quite satisfying and with the remaining two months we should be able to manage it. My original expectation was that we would lose about 10 percent in terms of horsepower, but I can say that now we will start below the level of last year's output but not much. Initially we will have less power than the end of last year, but there is a chance we will recover, and during the season we should have the same power back."

As for the 2004 FW26 chassis it certainly caused a few comments regarding the front nose but changes on other areas have been dictated by the new rules for 2004. This includes the rear wing, which is now only allowed to have two upper elements rather than the previous three, and the engine cover which .

As for the prospects for the FW26 to allow the BMW WilliamsF1 team to challenge for the drivers and constructors titles it is still very early days before one could say yes that the team has got it right with the car. But at least initial indications are that they have a car that is firstly reliable and secondly it has shown so far in testing that it able to set competitive times. This was something that the 2003 FW25 lacked in that it took the team a considerable amount of time to achieve a balance with the car.

The team still must have a lot to learn in regard to the front end of the car running not only the unusual front nose but also a twin keel design. Technical director Patrick Head said that there were gains from the set up, even if according to Frank Williams that "its not very pretty."

The aerodynamics of the FW26 certainly appears to be an area in which the team has spent considerable time examining all the alternatives from the shape of the front wing, high or low noses, the use of bargeboards, and twin keels. Head of aerodynamics Antonia Terzi was able to eliminate the part of the nose above the front wing, allowing for better airflow both over and below the car. To do this she used tusk line pylons to mount the front nose. The design of the front nose is very much like that used to success in 2003.

As for the twin keel design it's main purpose is to move the lower suspension mounting points away from the under nose area. The design, according to Patrick Head, allows for improvements in the aerodynamics in that there are only minor changes in the cars downforce depending upon the cars pitch and roll. The vanes, lying just behind the front wing, are similar to those used on the FW25 except they are mounted to the keels. The team continues with the use of a horizontal fin ahead of the sidepod.

Further aerodynamic changes can be seen in the airbox and engine covers which have been made slimmer. In line with rule changes for 2004 the trailing edge of the engine cover above the airbox now needs to meet a minimum width. The back along the sidepods have the familiar flip ups, exhausts, chimneys and winglets. From the recent testing it could be seen that the diffuser is similar with its tall square tunnels and a raised outer floor section between the main diffuser and wheels.

Obviously all these components will be the subject of change prior to the first Grand Prix in Melbourne and as the season progresses. The new FW26 may not be pretty, but all its components are well thought out and functional. BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya commented on the car after his initial runs. He said: "I expect and hope that we will be winning titles this year. I know our main intention is to come out fighting from Australia, no excuses. In seasons gone by, we have always looked to see where the opposition is after the winter. I hope this year that the other teams at least will have as much concern about our performance as we traditionally do about theirs."

All the elements needed to be successful are certainly in place with the BMW WilliamsF1 team. The design of the new car certainly shows that the team is prepared to be innovative in order to take the fight to their traditional rivals Ferrari. Both Juan Pablo and Ralf are committed to achieving success in 2004. The team is certainly showing that it is not going to be satisfied with coming second again in 2004. Would you place a bet on the BMW WilliamsF1 team achieving success in 2004, I for one would put my money where my mouth is.