The Williams team seems to have a knack of picking awful weather conditions to launch its new car and this year at Silverstone was no exception.  At one point during the ceremony, hosted by Channel 4's rally programme presenter, Jon Desborough, it seemed as though the giant marquee erected for the occasion was going to blow down. Luckily it survived, for the press to see a car which looks similar, not to say identical to last year's. Of course, the technical team declared that the car would be much modified by the time it lined up on the grid in Melbourne.

The world's press was keen to whip up a war of words between the two BMW-Williams drivers, who enjoyed something of a stormy relationship last year, but neither Ralf Schumacher nor Juan Pablo Montoya would play ball. The Colombian summed up the situation succinctly: "We have absolutely nothing in common," he said. "I am Latin and much more relaxed. "But we just get on with it and work together. If we don't, we will hurt ourselves and the team."

The FW24 was due to run for the first time at Silverstone this afternoon, weather permitting, before being shipped off to Spain, where test drivers Marc Gene and Antonio Pizzonia are currently testing the interim car at Barcelona.