Australian GP: Williams Friday practice notes

In the first Free Practice sessions of the 2004 season opener for the Australian Grand Prix, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya were 6th and 7th quickest respectively.

Ralf Schumacher:

"We could complete our programme today and, most importantly, we made our tyre choice, as the new regulations require. We didn't have much running in the morning also because of the poor conditions of the track, but I am quite confident we can improve even if the gap to Ferrari is seemingly very big."

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"Probably not the result I was looking forward to achieve in this first practice. I was expecting poor grip in the first session, due to the dusty track, but then the situation didn't improve that much when the track became cleaner, since the balance of my car was not ideal. We've now got some work ahead of us to close the gap to the Ferrari drivers, who have been very quick today."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"We have had a reasonably good first day in terms of checking all the systems for the race. We had no mechanical problems at all and got through the tyre programme as planned. For the long runs the cars look consistent. Now we will work on the set-up to make sure it is good for qualifying."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"After endless endurance testing of the BMW P84 engine both on the dyno and during test sessions, this has been the first true check at a race weekend. The engine has passed the first day without any problems. There was no limitation to the mileage of the engines from our side."

Ralf Schumacher: 6th
Chassis: FW26 03
Best time: 1.25.882min

Juan Pablo Montoya: 7th
Chassis: FW26 05 (Spare car FW25 04)
Best time: 1.26.206min

-williams-