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Team Willy!

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Williams sort-of launched their new car the same day as Ferrari, but suffered from a very British attack of not wanting to make a big show of it, so no journalists were in attendance, except for a scamp from Autosport who snapped this picture.

I'm always excited by a new Williams car, and that's a tidy motor - notably different to the Ferrari and McLaren too. I love the Williams team, although I've never been quite sure why. Maybe it was because they were successful when I was first getting into F1. Maybe it's their very British nature - so much more down to earth that Mclaren. Maybe it's Frank & Patrick's no-nonsense approach and refusal to pander to their driver's egos. Maybe it's because they're from Oxfordshire, the county I grew up in. Maybe it's because they ran Damon Hill, who's still my favourite all time driver.

Grumpy F1 pre-season preview? Oh, go on then....

Williams haven't won a thing for quite a few years now after much success in the 80's and 90's. Occasional promising results have too often been scuppered by driver or tactical errors. They're still canny though, and capable of thinking up something no-one else has. I really hope they can for 2010. Rosberg & Nakajima did well last year, but they've replaced Nico with... Nico (Hulkenberg). And Kaz with the longest-toothed F1 driver of all time, Barrichello. Rubens is good, make no doubts, and Nico... well, we'll have to wait and see.

Barrichello doesn't seem to get lucky. In fact, if it wasn't for bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. Last year with Brawn he finally had a shot for the title without team orders...and still got beaten. He can be great some days and a bit pants on others. I hope he gets the chance to mix it with the kind of company he got used to last year, and doesn't wind up battling Lotuses and, er, Virgins. Ooh, hang on - we'll have to think about what we call that team carefully, won't we...

Hulkenberg? If I'd done some research, I might be able to tell you how he'd got on pre-F1. Shockingly, I have - he was GP2 champ last year, so he'd good. How will he cope in F1 with the teensy bit of testing you're allowed nowadays though?

(NP The Excellent '86 album, titled and by They Might Be Giants)

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