Australian GP Friday Williams notes

The BMW WilliamsF1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button were 16th and 18th quickest in the first free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix. At the beginning of the second session, Ralf's car unfortunately had an oil leak limiting him to just a handful of laps, while at the end of the hour Jenson hit a bird that ended up inside his cockpit obviously forcing him to come back to the garage.

Ralf Schumacher (16th): "In the first hour I was quite happy with the balance of my FW22. Unfortunately we had an oil leak at the beginning of the second session which prevented me from completing more that 6 timed laps. So far I am optimistic for tomorrow's qualifying."

Jenson Button (18th): "My first free practice session in F1 went well. I like this circuit, especially the last corner. With regards to my very first lap, I must say that it was a bit scary, because there was a lot of dust on the track and it was very slippery. We did some good testing today and I don't really think that time we have set reflects how we are going, even if you can't tell anything until you get to qualifying. Obviously we are trying several items at the moment and I believe they are working well. In all I am pretty satisfied with the car. At the end of the session, when I was doing my last run on new tyres I hit a bird which entered the cockpit and this didn't really help, as it interrupted my run and I had to come in...to take the bird out of the car!"

Patrick Head (Technical Director WilliamsF1): "We have collected a lot of race data from Jenson’s car. Ralf was looking in quite good shape but then we had what looks like an oil leak. We were unable to get to it in a way that would allow us to get him out again so he has done a very few laps and his lap times reflect that. "

Dr. Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "Even if our position does not show it, we are happy with our very first day in F1. For us is very important every day when we can collect experience. Jenson Button drove 40 laps in race conditions and achieved more miles than any other driver today. Ralf could put only 15 laps under his belt, due to an oil leak. The leak was traced to a defective crankshaft rear main seal."