WilliamsF1 Team Comments Saturday Qualifying

By Andrew Hooper
October 11 2003

 
 
Japanese GP Saturday - Team Comments
 
Definitely a day of mixed fortunes for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, whose drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher qualified 2nd and 19th respectively in today's Final Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, the last race of the season. The outcome of the session was strongly affected by the changeable weather conditions, which forced Ralf to qualify on a wet track, unlike team-mate Juan Pablo.
 
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya"I am obviously pleased with my qualifying position, especially because the balance of my car wasn't ideal throughout my lap, due to the fact that we made some changes to the set-up since this morning's Free Practice sessions, in accordance with our weather forecast for tomorrow. However, I am sure we've got a very consistent and strong car for the race. It's a shame that Ralf will have to start from the back, as we really need to score as many points as possible for the Constructors' title."
 
Ralf Schumacher
 Ralf Schumacher"Everything was going so perfectly this weekend, even after this morning's session. I just had bad luck with the weather conditions in qualifying. I tried to make the best out of it, but it just did not work out. It was actually useless, I could have come in straight away. Then I eventually spun. I will have to start from the back of the grid and it will be very difficult to overtake and it is going to be a tough race. We need points for the Constructors' Championship and I'll fight hard, but that is the way it is today."
 
Dr Mario Theissen BMW Motorsports Director
 Mario Theissen"First the Indianapolis race and now also the result of the final qualifying session of the season has been decided by the weather conditions. Juan Pablo managed to complete his lap just before the rain started to fall significantly and secured second place. For the last three drivers, the rain's influence was evident - Michael Schumacher has to cope with 14th place, Ralf spun and Jarno Trulli didn't even do his qualifying lap. For Sunday changeable weather conditions are predicted too. Therefore it is impossible to predict the outcome of the race or the Constructors' Championship. At least, this weekend, once again, all of our engines have run trouble free so far."
 
Sam Michael Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1
 Sam Michael"It was obviously a mixed qualifying for us - good for Juan but bad for Ralf, which was due to the weather. However, we believe that we should have a good race performance tomorrow to help our challenge for the Constructors' Championship. Juan is well placed to start with and Ralf is keen to show what he can do by cutting through the field."
 
 
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