Sunday's British Grand Prix would see AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg finish in fifth position. Hew as also able to bring his car home in fifth in the previous race in Turkey. In the British race Nico was backed up by team-mate Kazuki Nakajima who qualified and ran well in the early stages of the race. Such is the improvement in the performance of the FW31 that Williams Director of Engineering Patrick Head believes that the team is capable of podium finishes.

The opening races of the 2009 season would see the Williams team produce some encouraging results in the practice session leading up to the race but they would struggle to produce a good result come the race. But the last two Grand Prix's have shown that the Williams team is making progress in getting an improved performance from the FW31. In the British Grand Prix Nico was able to show the pace of the FW31 by setting the third fastest time of the race.

In an interview for autosport.com Head spoke of view that the team is progressing. Head said: "We are beginning to get there. Nico has been in the top ten starters every race this year and I think this is Kazuki's second or third time in there, so yes it is progressing.

"But then every team is developing race-by-race and it is up to us to try and develop faster than them.

Head spoke of Nico's performance in the British Grand Prix by adding: "Nico happened to find a bit of clear air when whoever was in front of him at the time pitted and he had one lap clear and he set the third fastest lap of the race, 0.3s behind [Sebastian] Vettel.

"I'm not suggesting that that is the true gap (to the Red Bulls) but we just spent too much of the race behind other cars. The car is capable of a podium, but it is like anything - you can talk about it but you need to do it."

With the pace of development not only from the Williams team but also their competitors the competition is becoming more difficult. Finding an extra one tenth of a second can make a big difference come qualifying and the race.

Head spoke of this competition by saying: "The thing is now a tenth can be a couple of rows on the grid because everybody is so bloody close. Where as previously you could have said it was nothing it was only a tenth, now that is really valuable.

"Maybe it was a bit more than that, but that is the process that at every race one has got to be bringing developments, otherwise you find yourself sliding backwards."

The Williams team is certainly moving forwards having moved ahead of McLaren in the Constructors championship to now be fifth. Behind them in the championship are McLaren, Renault, and BMW.