Williams have vowed to be more aggressive in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix after scoring points with both cars in Bahrain's season-opener.
Australian Mark Webber finished sixth and German rookie Nico Rosberg seventh, setting the fastest lap in the process, but co-owner Patrick Head still felt former champions Williams had been too conservative.
"We're never going to get too excited about sixth and seventh but it was good to be doing quite competitive times on the track," he said after Sunday's race.
"We probably underestimated our true performance and we ran a lot of fuel on the car and qualified probably too heavy.
"In truth, we've got to take a more aggressive approach in Malaysia, but two cars in the points - we're not too unhappy with that as a first-off."
Sunday's race at the Sakhir circuit was a first for the new combination of Williams, the Cosworth-powered V8 engine and Bridgestone tyres, as well as the first trial for the new knockout qualifying format.
The team's seamless shift gearbox also made its race debut which Head reckoned was worth an advantage of a few tenths of a second per lap.
"Our qualifying and pit stop strategy will be interesting now we've seen the results from the new format in Bahrain, and it is bound to spring a few surprises again," said technical director Sam Michael ahead of the race in steamy Sepang.
Webber and Rosberg, at 20 the youngest driver to set a fastest lap, headed straight to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to acclimatise for one of the most physically demanding races on the calendar.
Rosberg is only the fourth driver in Formula One history to take the fastest lap on his debut and the last since Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in 1996. He has yet to drive the circuit that gave Williams victory with Ralf Schumacher in 2002.
- Images from the Bahrain Grand Prix | 2006 season coverage
"I will do a few more laps in the practice sessions than in Bahrain in order to prepare myself," he said in a team preview.
"I've driven it on the simulator, though, and from that I think it's going to be a track I'll enjoy. It's going to be very hot out there so it should be a good race for us and, in particular, for our tyres."