F1Break

Following my post yesterday, I thought it'd be worthwhile being a little more specific about exactly which drivers could take Williams forward. The candidates aren't necessarily blindingly fast over a single lap, although I believe four out of the five would be perfectly capable of giving Nico Rosberg a run for his money, when at their best. The team appears to have the requisite engineering talent on-board already, but lacks a driver who's able to push their development programme forward.

5. Luca Badoer

The former Formula 3000 champion has spent an astonishing 11 seasons as test driver for Ferrari. Even when he returned to the sport as a race driver, in 1999 with Minardi, Ferrari kept him on in a testing role. It's unlikely that the Maranello-based squad would have shown such loyalty, and entrusted Badoer with so much millage, if he wasn't reasonably competent when it comes to helping develop a winning car. He's not slow, either, and was never embarrassed during the five seasons he raced in Formula One.

4. Anthony Davidson

Williams attempted to sign Davidson for 2005, but were blocked by BAR who weren't prepared to release the Briton from his testing contract. Having spent five years as a test driver, there are very few people who can match Davidson's experience when it comes to developing a modern Formula One car. He's unquestionably talented, the only downside is that his only regular racing experience since Formula 3 has been the time - just over a season - he spent driving for Super Aguri.

3. Giancarlo Fisichella

Although Fisichella only occasionally bettered Fernando Alonso for pace during their time together at Renault, when the French team were no longer fighting for the title last year, he did a respectable job. This has been demonstrated by the fact that Alonso has struggled to push the team much further forward in 2008. It's when driving for midfield teams that the Italian has been at his best, having no trouble blowing away drivers such as Jenson Button in equal equipment, and scoring consistent points finishes in somewhat mediocre cars.

2. Giorgio Pantano

In recent years, Pantano has made a living for himself driving in GP2. But he's regularly been seen in teams not previously considering to be front-running. He's managed to drag a number of former midfield teams up to the front of the grid, regularly challenging for wins. Admittedly, this task has been made somewhat easier by the fact that all teams run the same cars, but it hasn't been matched by any other driver. The veteran Italian has a wealth of experience, having previously raced in a wide variety of series, including both Formula One and the IRL.

1. Pedro de la Rosa

Despite having started racing very late in life - at the age of 18 - de la Rosa has won championships at every level he's competed, bar Formula One. He's not the kind of driver to take the role of car development lightly. He won't just turn up at a test, provide feedback to engineers, and then run off home. As we learnt throughout spygate, de la Rosa is always looking for ways to make his team faster, even away from the track.

During Alex Wurz's two years at Williams, the team moved from eight to fourth in the constructors' championship. In 2007, when racing - rather than testing - he had a solid, if unspectacular, season, scoring a total of 13 points.

We're not talking about a driver who was ever going to be out-qualifying team-mate Nico Rosberg on a regular basis, yet he made a vital contribution to the team. Well respected for his technical contributions, the input Wurz made to Williams' development programme proved highly valuable.

Before the season got underway, it looked like 2008 was going to be a successful year for Williams. They were on the pace in testing, and some even speculated that the team had a chance of returning to the top step of the podium.

The team enjoyed a strong start to 2008, with Nico Rosberg on the rostrum in Australia. But despite this positive result, during the course of the season Williams have slipped back so far that they're now fighting with the Force India cars for last position.

At Williams' disposal are two young, quick drivers. But both lack experience, and the FW30 hasn't been successfully developed throughout the course of the season.

During Damon Hill's time with Williams, a number of journalists would point out that he was in the best car. This was meant to be somewhat disparaging, but as Hill often retorted, having worked with the engineers at Williams over a number of years (initially as a test driver), the team's successful development programme was obviously influenced by his own contributions.

Williams have engineers who are well respected with the paddock, although their budget doesn't match that of the manufacturer teams. With testing millage heavily restricted these days, and given the team's current lack of competitiveness, attracting an experienced, respected driver to the role of test driver would be difficult.

There can be no denying that Williams has failed to developed their car throughout the season. Employing a more experience race driver, even if he doesn't have the ultimate pace of Rosberg, may be what's needed to ensure the Grove-based outfit can fight with the well financed manufacturer teams.