WilliamsF1 Team Comments United States GP

By Andrew Hooper
September 29 2003

 
 
United States GP Race - Team Comments
 
The changeable weather and track conditions didn't help the BMW WilliamsF1 Team today. Juan Pablo Montoya finished in 6th position whilst team-mate Ralf Schumacher spun off on the wet track. The BMW WilliamsF1 Team now lies three points behind Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, whereas Juan Pablo Montoya has now lost any chance of winning the Drivers' title.

Jerez Test: 1-4 October, Ralf Schumacher and Marc Gené
 
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya"A very disappointing race, basically decided by the penalty I was given for the accident with Rubens and the moment I had to pay it. Due to the changeable weather conditions, in fact, it started to rain hard just when I was given my 'drive through' penalty, which forced me to delay by one lap my pit-stop to change onto wet tyres. It is sad to lose my Drivers' Championship chances in this way, especially knowing that I just needed to finish 5th today, to keep my hopes open."
 
Ralf Schumacher
 Ralf Schumacher"When it started to rain quite heavily around lap 20 I stayed out on the track one lap too much which was unfortunately due to a misunderstanding with my engineers on the pit-wall. It was obviously not the right decision and I spun on the track which had become very slippery, hit the barriers and had to retire from the race. The conditions out there were very difficult, very challenging. It was a very disappointing end, especially because I was right up there amongst the leaders and ahead of Michael and Kimi."
 
Dr Mario Theissen BMW Motorsports Director
 Mario Theissen"Our race has actually been decided by the weather conditions. When the rain came, the order got mixed up and changed again when the track dried out. Due to this Ralf spun and damaged the rear suspension. Juan Pablo dropped far behind when he served his drive through penalty and had a fuel rig problem and especially for him the result is disappointing as he is now out of the fight for the Driver's title. The Constructors' Championship is not decided yet, and we just hope weather will not be the crucial factor again in Suzuka. Congratulations to Michael and Ferrari, they made the most out of it today."
 
Sam Michael Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1
 Sam Michael"It was obviously a bad day for both championships from our point of view. We have made quite a lot of mistakes as a team today which we have to address for the next race in Japan."
 
 
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