Williams admits: We aren't fast enough.

With the start of the 2005 Formula One season just a matter of weeks away, Frank Williams has admitted that the new BMW Williams FW27 doesn't yet have the pace to take fight to Ferrari in the battle for the championship.

Speaking ahead of the new season, Williams said he believed that McLaren and Renault would start 2005 as the main challengers to the World Champions, but was confident that his own team would soon be fighting at the front.

"We're starting a little behind them [the teams main rivals], again," he told Reuters. "But I think we've now got the means, the assets to really make some very rapid recovery. Not tomorrow morning, but over the next few months."

"I don't think that we'll be on the front two rows [in Melbourne], but we might be. Everyone's sandbagging a little bit."

Director of engineering Patrick Head also admitted that the team was not expecting to challenge right from the start of the year, and added that new driver Mark Webber was 'disappointed' by the early performance of the new machine.

"He [Webber] is clearly disappointed with the performance of the car," Head said. "He realises that the basic car is potentially good but that aerodynamically it is in need of some more downforce.

"He's obviously disappointed by that and knocked back a bit. I've had a few telephone calls from him and he's not disguising his disappointment.

"But for me to say to him 'Oh don't worry Mark it'll be alright on the day' is not my style. I've told him exactly what we're doing but I'm not going to predict that by Malaysia we'll be front row or whatever because I think it'll take a little bit longer than that."