Austrian GP Friday Williams notes

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher were 20th and 22nd respectively in the first free practice sessions for the Austrian Grand Prix. In the second session Ralf could complete only a few laps due to a technical problem.

Jenson Button
"I love this circuit, it's good. It is very wide, open and fast and I was actually surprised by how short it is. I think that today a lot of the cars have been running qualifying set-ups whereas we have been concentrating more on the race set-up. I think the car is not too bad, we have just to sort out a bit of balance in the fastest corners."

Ralf Schumacher
"I couldn't run more than 13 laps in my second free practice session. In the morning I went off the track - right at the Gerhard Berger corner - but I could continue. In the afternoon the power of my car suddenly switched off on the second lap due to an electrical or electronic problem, the cause of which we are investigating."

Patrick Head (Technical Director, WilliamsF1)
"Ralf's stop interrupted our programme for these free practice sessions therefore we had to do a lot of homework on Jenson's car. We have been mainly focusing on tyres and race fuel conditions, and obviously on brakes, which are put under quite a lot of pressure by this track."

Dr Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)
"Both the engines ran smoothly today. Ralf's stop was caused by an electrical or electronic fault. We still don't know the reason for it. It's a shame that the failure happened so early as Ralf lost a lot of valuable time for working on the set-up. "