Top test for Williams as Piquet Jr, Rosberg shine.

In a three day test at the Jerez de la Frontera ciruit in Spain this week, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team continued an intensive preparation programme for the imminent introduction of the WilliamsF1 BMW FW26, combined with an evalution of two young drivers, Nelson Piquet Jr and Nico Rosberg.

The team undertook continuing drivetrain validation, including the new BMW P84 engine, and the FW26 gearbox, as well as undertaking a variety of systems, electronics and reliability running, together with tyre work, making the most of occasional wet running opportunities during the three days.

The young drivers both acquitted themselves well, conducting a day and a half of running each, amounting to just shy of 1000km between the pair over the duration of the test.

"This week was great fun, it was a really unbelievable experience," noted Rosberg, "Of course, there was a lot of pressure, but I decided not to worry about that and just to do the best I could. I was particularly happy that I managed to understand the car and work out how it was behaving, and after that I managed to set a good pace."

"It was difficult with all the anticipation that my first day had a couple of interuptions and we lost maybe two hours," Piquet Jr continued, "But otherwise it went really well, particularly today despite it being wet for some of the time, and I was quite satisfied with how I got on. I really appreciated the assistance I was given by the engineers who really helped me in my programme."

Sam Michael, chief operations engineer, WilliamsF1, added: "We finished the test with a wet day today, which proved productive for wet tyre and traction control work, which supplemented a busy and productive test. Nelson and Nico did a good job and worked well with the team, as well as showing themselves to be technically competent."

Mario Theissen, BMW's motorsport director, concluded: "Although we have had mixed weather in Jerez and have had to run in the wet on a number of occasions, we have still managed to complete a huge programme running three chassis.

"With one chassis Ralf Schumacher and Marc Gen? concentrated on the further development of the BMW P84 engine, while the second car was committed to chassis and tyre work, and the third chassis was used for the driver evaluation of Piquet and Rosberg. In summary, it was a very productive test and we only had to make one engine change due to a failure on Wednesday."