WilliamsF1 Team Comments: Saturday Qualifying

By Andrew Hooper
March 22 2003

 
 
Malaysian GP Saturday - Team Comments
 
After a trouble free morning’s Practice in the heat of Malaysia, the
BMW WilliamsF1 Team performed discretely in the Final Qualifying session. Juan Pablo Montoya will start the second Grand Prix of the season from eighth position whereas team mate Ralf Schumacher will be seventeenth on the grid. Race will start at 3:00pm local time (7:00am UK time).
 
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya"I had some balance problems, which were expected with the set up we need for the race on this track. I was very worried when I saw Ralf’s lap though, as he was struggling with his balance quite a lot. However, I had am pretty happy that we are quite close to McLaren
and I think that we look pretty good for the race thanks to our strategy."
 
Ralf Schumacher
 Ralf Schumacher"I am still not happy with the balance of my car and in addition to this I made a couple of mistakes in two corners, where I lost some time. Anyway, I shouldn’t be 8 tenths away from my team mate. It’s clear that I have to get used to this new qualifying system. Nevertheless I believe we have a good strategy compared to the other teams and our performance will improve for Sunday."
 
Dr Mario Theissen BMW Motorsports Director
 Mario Theissen"Congratulation to Renault for having placed both their cars on the first row. With position 8 and 17 our cars are a bit far behind. We will know only tomorrow in the race how much
these positions will affect our performance. It’s mostly about the different fuel load and the tyre choice. Furthermore here in Sepang there’s always the chance of a rainstorm. I think the viewers will enjoy an eventful and entertaining race."
 
Sam Michael Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1
 Sam Michael"Even though it is difficult to tell where everybody is because of the fuel loads for the race, we expected to be higher on the grid with both cars. Juan did a good job, though. Now we have to work out how to get the most out of these grid positions."
 
 
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