Williams ditches controversial exhaust

Williams has elected to change the exhaust system fitted to the new FW35 after question marks were raised about the legality of vanes covering part of the outlet.

The Grove-based team insisted it had no concerns that that part wasn't within the regulations when the car was launched in Barcelona prior to the second pre-season test of the winter, with concerns having already being raised about a similar device on the new Caterham.

The FIA however moved to ban the systems by informing the teams that changes would be needed prior to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, with Williams now making amendments to comply with the wishes of the governing body.

"We just changed it and that's it," chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar was quoted by ESPN when asked if the team had questioned the decision. "We have done some modifications and now it's changed."

Having made the changes, Pujolar also insisted that the team was in good shape and had taken a step forward with the new car compared to the 2012 machine it ran in the first test at Jerez.

"Last week we had a good test for us but it's difficult to know what everybody is doing," he said. "But if we compare to the previous week in Jerez when we were there with last year's car getting a reference with the tyres, we now just compare the cars and we're happy we've done a step forward. Also we did a lot of mileage last week so we know its reliable and now we need to see what everybody else has done in Melbourne."