As to whether this change will see Ralf Schumacher aim to continue his future with WilliamsF1 given his relationship with Michael. Michael and Ralf have been in several teams together during their careers in Formula One.

Ralf claims that these changes will play no part in any decision to stay or leave the team. Ralf said: "I'm not sure yet whether it has anything to do with my situation. That will take a while. I'm simply waiting to decide what I'm going to do. That's all I can say at the moment. Nothing is decided yet.

"We are still talking, certainly still waiting for what is happening in our team and then I will see what the outcome is. I just want to be in the best position possible."

As for the impact of these changes on the performance of the WilliamsF1 team Ralf felt that they would only be of benefit next year.

Ralf added: "It will take Sam a while. I'm sure Sam will do great things with Williams but there's all the existing structure and things have to be changed. The cars are still the same so you won't turn it around overnight.

"It will take at least three or four races until we see some slight changes but the biggest change will certainly be next year."

Ralf was supported in this view by team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. Juan Pablo felt that in the time he had left with the WilliamsF1 team he would not gain from these changes. Juan Pablo was unsure as to the exact nature f the changes.

Juan pablo said: "It is very hard to know how it is going to change, is it going to be Patrick completely out? I know he is going to be senior, you know, chief of the team, but I don’t think he can do too much in the short-term. I don’t know, are we going to have a new car?

As far as I know we are not. He is probably going to try to push the team harder to come up more goods. Hopefully it can improve because I am still driving the car and I would like to have a quicker car. It is a matter of time, so we have to wait and see what happens. I cannot go and say, you know, Sam is in a higher position, so now we are going to win."

Juan Pablo added: "You know, hopefully like Ralf said, Sam can bring the things around. But I would be very surprised because Patrick was doing a very competitive job anyway. It’s not like Patrick was fingers crossed and waiting to see a miracle happen. Patrick was working really hard behind the car as well."