| After a
confident start to the 2005 season, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team travels to
the unique desert setting of Sakhir for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The team
hopes to capitalise on an intense period of development which has seen
an unprecedented number of changes brought to the FW27. With varying
fortunes in the first two races of the year, the team's driver pairing
of Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber will be seeking to lead the team in a
strong and consistent performance in the Middle East before the start of
the European season.
Mark Webber:
"After such an exciting
race in Malaysia, we're expecting Bahrain to be fairly similar. We're
clearly showing good progress with both Nick and myself running well in
Malaysia, although it was a shame I wasn't able to finish the job.
However, Bahrain is a very different circuit to Malaysia with a lot of
slow corners and long straights. It
produced a very good Grand Prix last year with lots of overtaking and
I'm hoping we can get closer to Renault, the current pacesetters, this
time round."
Nick Heidfeld:
"I feel very confident after my podium in Malaysia, so I am looking
forward to the next
race in Bahrain. The circuit can be very dirty as it lies in the middle
of the desert, so we might see even less people going out at the
beginning of the sessions than
usual, in particular on the Friday. I think last year's race in Bahrain
was one of the
most exciting Grands Prix of the season, so it's likely that the fans
will see another
great race. Like Malaysia, Bahrain will be a hot race, and so a tough
challenge for
the car, especially the engine. Bahrain will be the second race in a row
for my
engine, as well as for some of the other drivers on the grid."
Sam Michael Technical Director:
"Following
the improved performance of the FW27 seen in Malaysia, we are looking
forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix. The FW27 is getting faster, but it is
still not quick enough to be competing at the front yet, but that is
definitely our target.
The Bahrain circuit has some long straights and slow speed corners which
drive the minimum lift to drag ratio requirement upwards. Although it is
still a high downforce circuit, this means that minimizing drag is
important in Bahrain. It will therefore be interesting to see where all
the teams are placed. Based on last year's race, there are plenty of
overtaking opportunities as well which should provide for an exciting
Grand Prix. We will have some more aerodynamic improvements for the FW27
in Bahrain and Michelin will bring one known, and one new, tyre choice.
In terms of compound hardness, we were still slightly conservative in
the last Grand Prix, but Michelin are getting much closer to the optimum
compound region now.
Pit stop strategy is likely to be similar to that seen in the first two
races. Aside from driver mistakes, once the Saturday qualifying session
has been run it is quite difficult to significantly move grid position
from the Sunday qualifying session as the effect of fuel load has been
halved.
Dr Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"The
Malaysian Grand Prix confirmed two things. Firstly, the competition has
changed in comparison to what it was in 2004. Secondly, the enormous
efforts that have been put into the development of the chassis have
bared fruit. In addition, our drivers have demonstrated their impressive
racing ability.
From BMW's perspective, Sepang was the biggest challenge we have faced
since returning to Formula One. Not only because of the extreme heat in
Malaysia, but also because Mark's BMW P84/5 engine had already run the
entire Australian Grand Prix two weekends before. Despite this, we did
not encounter any problems with the engines. That is encouraging, but we
still need to be prepared for more heat in Bahrain. Mark will have a
fresh engine for the Bahrain Grand Prix while Nick will continue to run
the same one he raced in Malaysia.
Because of the dry desert wind, we might have to deal with very fine
sand in
Bahrain. In order to protect the engine's air intake from this potential
problem, we
have prepared a finer air filter which features a denser weave that we
will take to
Bahrain. The balancing act is to provide as much protection as necessary
without reducing the air flow.
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