The Williams-Toyota Formula One team heads into this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Sachir hoping to find a bit of consistency after mixed fortunes in the opening two races of the 2008 season. ( dpa )
Nico Rosberg gave Williams a wonderful start by claiming the first podium position of his career at the season-opening Australian GP but the team then had a disappointing weekend in Sepang as Rosberg and team-mate Kazuki Nakajima finished down in 14th and 17th, respectively.
The 22-year-old German, son of former F1 world champion Keke Rosberg, was in the frame for a move to McLaren-Mercedes as a replacement for Fernando Alonso at the end of the season but instead he signed an improved contract with Williams until 2009.
"Nico is a fantastically competent driver but I can't say in advance how he will perform in Bahrain," Williams told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"However, I do know that, as always, he will give 100 per cent and compete until the end in order to achieve the best result possible for the team."
Despite the relatively promising start to the season, Williams is under no illusions about the current pecking order in F1 and admits his team has a long way to go before it is in a position to challenge the likes of McLaren or Ferrari for a race win.
"At the moment a victory is out of our reach as the Ferraris and McLarens are simply too strong," he said.
Rosberg, meanwhile, said he was really looking forward to the race weekend in Bahrain, and expected to come back stronger after the struggles in Malaysia. "As a whole, it's been quite an extreme start to the season," he confessed. "We had a very strong start and then a bit of a down, but that's the way it is in racing and you just have to get on with it.
"We've already learnt a lot from the past two races and we will make progress going into these next few races."