Williams is fourth in the Constructors' Championship, and it hurts. Montoya winning in Melbourne would have changed it all, but Patrick Head knows there are no ifs or buts in Formula One. Gary Emmerson talked to the technical director about the team's struggle at the start of the season, his drivers' mistakes, the aerodynamic deficiency of the car, and how they expect to return to the top. Exclusive for Atlas F1

As a born-racer and a Championship winner, Patrick Head has naturally been disappointed with his BMW-Williams team's start of the 2003 season. But he is experienced enough to know that things will turn around and begin to work in his favour.

Having finished second to World Champions Ferrari last year, Williams had got the jump on British rivals McLaren, but the start of the 2003 season has seen the Woking-based team regain the ascendancy, and even leave Ferrari standing.

Two victories in the opening two races - one each for David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen - have propelled McLaren to the top of the charts, while Williams have slipped to what team boss Sir Frank Williams brands as a "shameful" fourth place overall.

Aerodynamic problems and rumours surrounding driver Ralf Schumacher have combined to give Head a troubled start to the year. But as the season heads for the first European race at Imola this weekend, the Williams technical director is convinced that fortunes are beginning to change.

"It hasn't been as fast as we intended to begin with," Head said of the FW25, which - although an improvement on last year's race-winning car - has had aerodynamics discrepancies. "I think it's a good car and we're developing it fast and I think we'll play a major part from now in the season.

"I think the car's a lot better and I think we're in better shape in the factory and in our aerodynamic department. We've got a pretty positive outlook, but, on the other hand, we've let McLaren get some way ahead, so have Ferrari, so we've got some catching up to do."

Getting the aerodynamic department in order was the reason behind Head missing the Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur four weeks ago, following the decision to part-company with design team members Jason Somerville and Nick Allcock.

Whether or not the in-house reshuffling will result in the true pace of the new car, as has been suggested on several occasions during testing sessions, being transferred onto the Grand Prix circuit remains to be seen.

Had it not been for a mistake late in the race in Australia, Juan Pablo Montoya would have given the team the perfect start to the season with victory in Melbourne. From there, however, podium chances have been non-existent, with both Montoya and Schumacher struggling in Malaysia and Brazil.

Schumacher, more than Montoya, has been left off-the-pace. Problems in his private life have affected him, and the German, winner in Imola two years ago, is struggling in the shadow of his five-time World Champion brother Michael.

Ralf was unhappy during the season-opener in Australia and even adopted Montoya's set-up in Malaysia as life in the new FW25 proved tricky. It prompted Head to send him a letter of encouragement.

"I wrote to him in Malaysia because he was concerned about the technical support around him in Australia in terms of operations of his car," Head said. "I merely wrote to him about how I thought he could best use the people around him.

"It wasn't an aggressive letter. I'm very surprised it's been made public. I'd be quite happy to publish the letter I wrote to him." Later on, Head decided against publishing the letter, stating he'd rather let the matter come to rest and not fuel on the media debate around Schumacher.

The tempestuous Montoya certainly got to Schumacher last year, claiming seven pole positions and proving his undoubted natural talent and speed. But in truth it was Schumacher, rather than the Colombian, who scored the team's only victory - in Malaysia.

The quiet German and the exuberant Latin-American are hardly two of a kind. Racers they may be but in personality and driving style they differ vastly. And they don't necessarily see eye-to-eye.

Montoya, still with only one Grand Prix victory to his name, sees beating his teammate as the main challenge, according to Head. Ralf, on the other hand, has exactly the same determination, but does not wear it on his sleeve.

"It's difficult to call (who will come out on top)," he claims. "So much in this business can be down to luck. Like last year, whether Ralf beat Juan Pablo over the year or Juan Pablo beat Ralf, it was down to whose engine failed in which race - sorry, I shouldn't have said that! Whose car failed. It's down to tiny events that make the difference over a season."

He adds: "In Brazil, we qualified with quite a lot of fuel on board, but we thought we could have found a few tenths more. The drivers always say they could have gone a bit quicker.

"But in the debrief afterwards, Juan was saying, when we told him we'd looked at his qualifying, 'I asked my engineer to tighten the differential up and he forgot'. In fact, the engineer didn't forget and we pointed out he'd tightened it up as tight as it could be.

"But Juan's ego is so big that he said 'Up until the last corner, I was three tenths up on him (Ralf) but the diff caught me out!' Juan wears his ego and his macho right on the outside. Ralf I'm sure has just as much determination, but probably has that side of him under a bit more control."

Head has certainly experienced some interesting driver pairings during his years at the company's Grove headquarters having paired Alan Jones with the quiet Carlos Reutemann and put Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet together.

The Montoya-Schumacher relationship has yet to reap the rewards, though, but according to Head they feed off each other. The desperation to beat each other is something that has, and is, driving the team forward.

"The deliberate act is to try and get two drivers as fast as you can in your cars," Head added. "You'll always find if you've got two drivers who are always scoring off each other they're always going to see beating their teammate as the strongest competition. It's certainly not the case that we say 'Who can we employ that will wind Ralf up?'"

And what of Montoya's ego? He came into Formula One, having previously been with Williams as a test driver, on the back of winning the CART title in America and billed as the man to follow Jacques Villeneuve's exploits of winning both series.

Villeneuve did it in his second year with Williams, but with Montoya now in his third season in Formula One he is still searching to add to his solitary victory in Italy in his debut year in 2001. Head does not doubt the ability of the Colombian, but he knows mistakes need to be eradicated to become a true great.

"He's still very fast," is the honest assessment of Montoya. "Juan is his own strongest critic and, by his own admission, he made a mistake in Australia that cost him the win. I think it would have been amazing to win because I don't think [we had] the best car there, but he still made a mistake.

"If you're going to win Championships, you can't afford to make mistakes like that. In Malaysia, our car wasn't the most competitive, but he was unlucky to have had (Antonio) Pizzonia run into the back of him.

"That shows the ifs and buts of Formula one. But had he not had that thump he would almost certainly have finished second or at worst third and it would have put him in a much stronger position. Whatever, these things happen and there are still 13 races to go."

How right he is. And with the new regulations threatening to throw up some interesting results this season and ensure the title race is a close-fought affair, few would bet against a team of the calibre of Williams being in the mix come-October.

Rumours persist that Schumacher is to be replaced at the end of the year despite both Williams drivers being contracted for a further season, but discussions on the future have yet to take place. For Head the important thing is to get things right on the track as soon as possible.

"We're contracted with Juan Pablo and Ralf until the end of 2004," he stated. "Yes, Frank and I talk about beyond 2004, but it isn't a massive issue. The biggest thing in our minds is to get our car better and kick our season off better than we've had in the past couple of races."