About time Williams got back on top

Hockenheim: Former champions Williams can be back among the Formula One winners next season after securing Toyota engines, according to Mark Webber.

However the Australian driver cautioned against expecting any quick return to the top, a decade since Williams clinched their ninth and last constructors' world title with Renault power in 1997.

"To be on top is hard," Webber said at the German Grand Prix on Thursday. "To be a lot more competitive is easier, should be a lot more straightforward. To be consistently on top is not a five minute job."

Team owner Frank Williams said the three-year Toyota engine deal, announced earlier, was the "cornerstone of Williams's challenge for the world championship."

Webber, who could be confirmed at the team for 2007 in the next few days, said the deal was great news for a team struggling to be competitive with Cosworth engines after the split with former partners BMW last season.

"Cosworth have always had the brains, it's just the resources at this level sometimes can be a bit tough for them," he said. "It's nothing against their quality of material, it's just that they don't have the bank like Toyota has."

Toyota, with one of the biggest budgets in the sport, have yet to win a race since making their debut with their own team in 2002.

Williams have won 113 times since 1979 but their last victory was with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in Brazil in October 2004.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, the last driver to win the championship with Williams in 1997, said it did not matter that Williams had only a customer supply of engines, rather than an exclusive works deal.

The key, he said, was development of the car. "They haven't been consistently running at the front since 1997, although they've had the odd year where they managed to get close and then drop back again for some reason," he said of the team's prospects.

"They've won so many times in the past, I'm sure they can get back to it...engine-wise it's not a problem, it's just do you have enough budget to be able to develop the car?"

Webber agreed with the Canadian. "Engines are nice but most of the performance (is elsewhere)," he said. "Honda last year had a better engine than (champions) Renault.

"We spend a lot of time on straights but you need to make sure that power is being used correctly and efficiently to do the business."