Every success WilliamsF1 achieve is a testament to the spirit of the garagistas. WilliamsF1 is a racing team amongst corporate giants. Sportsmen fighting against businessmen. David versus Goliath. They are you and me. They are the heart and soul of what F1 should be.

A decade ago WilliamsF1 peaked with a string of nearly uninterrupted championships. Since then, success has been fleeting but with a quiet dignity, the team has soldiered on. Today, surrounded on the grid by the world’s largest automotive manufacturers, WilliamsF1 is the last of their breed - garagistas. Pure racers. Simply, WilliamsF1 exists, not to sell more Honda Civics or BMW M3’s but to win races and championships. Period.

Where a team like Honda or Toyota can simply quit F1 if they become disenchanted with not winning, WilliamsF1’s existence remains tied to sustainable success on the track. That ethos demands a level of commitment that few in the paddock demonstrate.

How much commitment does Renault’s Flavio Briatore have to ‘his’ team’s survival? Some, but it’s not his team - he’s an employee with a salary and benefits. Frank Williams is a team owner. To demonstrate the difference, consider this: Frank Williams sold his private jet last year to fund a second, state of the art wind tunnel. As a quadriplegic, Frank benefited more than most would from the use of a private jet to get back and forth to races. It was more than a luxury but it was also a means to an end.

How many ‘employees’ would do that for an employer? For that matter, how many owners would do that for their teams? Eddie Jordan, owner of Jordan Racing, sold his team when they were in financial trouble. Selling the private yacht and other toys was not an option for Eddie.

That new wind tunnel was built to make the race cars go faster, end of story. Was it worth it? Well, the team have put what might be their best designed car in years on the track. Certainly in winter testing, it has been consistently fast during every test. The question is, can Frank’s team humble the corporate juggernauts like Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and arch rival BMW?

I think they already have - just by continuing to exist and thrive as racers.

The heart of F1 is no longer Italian red, it is blue - the midnight blue of the new WilliamsF1 team colors. Incidentally, the team launched their new livery today - see below.

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2008 will see several important milestones reached for the Williams F1 racing team.  Incorporated in 1977 by Frank Williams and Patrick Head, the team will contest their 500th race at the Turkish GP this year.  Williams himself will celebrate his 600th Grand Prix when the F1 circus arrives at Monaco in May.  The added races are because Frank ran a number of customer cars for nearly as decade before establishing the current marque.

The team will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first design, the FW06, and with a reasonable amount of reliability, they will complete their 50,000th race lap at some stage of the Spanish Grand Prix.

To commemorate these milestones, the team will debut six different themed liveries during the two month winter testing campaign in Spain. Despite Williams opting not to have an official launch this season, fans will have even more reason to keep an eye on the ever changing FW29B. No official date was available online for the FW30 model that the team will use for the opening race in Melbourne, Australia on March 16, 2008

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McLaren boss Ron Dennis today told reporters at the launch of the new MP4/23 that he was focused on the future and not looking back. No surprise given that in 2007 the team were stripped of all their team points, effectively finishing last, were fined a record 100 million dollars and lost the driver’s championship by a point in the final race. Ron definitely has a knack for understatement.

Still, today’s launch in Stuttgart was all smiles. Lewis Hamilton, who today celebrated his 23rd birthday, was brimming with excitement as was Renault refugee Heikki Kovalainen. Its an ideal pairing for Ron Dennis as its expected Hamilton will only face moderate pressure from the Finn. Everyone will have learned how destructive two bulls in the same pasture can be from last year’s Hamilton/Alonso partnership.

Still, its hard not to root for Heikki and hope he gives Hamilton a bit to think about. Like Hamilton last year, there is little pressure and an established benchmark to compete against. Will he be the Berger to Hamilton’s Senna and easily assume the number 2 position or will he embrace his racer’s instinct and challenge Hamilton? I look forward to it being the latter scenario.

McLaren are a resilient team with massive depth in all their departments. The setbacks of 2007 will likely be overcome but not soon enough to stop a Ferrari juggernaut from steamrolling to the title. Simply, McLaren need to play it too straight with the rules and the FIA this year to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.

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Toyota Racing will unveil their 2008 race car live over the internet so fans can catch every moment of the official launch. You can check out all the action via streaming video on the Toyota racing website Thursday January 10th at 10:30 AM German Standard Time.

(http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/en/index_e.html)

Toyota management are launching their contender just as news surfaces that the team have been told they have just two more years to produce some serious results in F1 or else! Nearly a decade after they started and with the biggest budget in F1, the world’s largest automaker has accomplished very little. The serious concern for F1 is whether the ultimatum was directed at the racing team’s management or Toyota’s commitment to continue in F1 at all.

Veteran driver Jarno Trulli and newcomer Timo Glock will campaign for Toyota this season. Some may remember that Timo drove briefly for Jordan (nee Midland; nee Spyker; nee Force India) a few years ago. Timo went on to race in Champ Cars before heading back to Europe for GP2.

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