Australian GP: Williams Saturday notes

Showers provided additional excitement to the qualifying session of the Australian Grand Prix. For the BMW WilliamsF1 Team Ralf Schumacher had more luck in terms of timing and qualified third on the grid. Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya will start from sixth place for the first race of the season, on Sunday at 3:00am UK time.

Ralf Schumacher - Position: 3rd
"Of course I am pleased with my result. As we knew it would start raining, we feared we would miss the best moment for having a quick lap. But our timing was good. It is a pity for Juan, who was blocked on his flying lap, as our team result could have been even better. My car was good. I just had a bit of understeer, which we should get sorted out by tomorrow."

Juan Pablo Montoya - Position: 6th
"I had only one run and I think I lost about six or eight tenths because Fisichella held me up. That was a bit disappointing because there was a lot more to come in the car. But anyway, I feel well prepared for tomorrow. In the morning session we have found out quite a few useful things."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1)
"We had a reasonably good day given the weather circumstances. Juan Pablo was unlucky to have traffic on his first run. Ralf decided to sit out the first three or four minutes to avoid the traffic and managed to get a clear lap and to put in a good time . But in terms of competitiveness, the car is reasonable. The drivers were quite complimentary about the balance. The important thing now is to capitalise on it tomorrow and make sure we get the best result in the race with a healthy points haul."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director) "It was very difficult to get the timing right in today's qualifying, due to the showers preventing us from getting a dry lap in without too much traffic. It worked well for Ralf, but not for Juan. For the race we have many chances starting from our grid positions. We have enjoyed two trouble free days behind us and all the test kilometres we completed in the last two months are now paying off. I hope this will also be the case tomorrow. Reliability is massively important in the first race as all the new cars are at an early stage of their development."

Weather
Rain starting after 30 minutes.
Average air temperature 17°C. track temperature 17°C.

-williams-