Austrian GP: Williams race notes

On a race which was significantly affected by many laps behind the safety car, due principally to a spectacular accident which befell Takuma Sato's Jordan and Nick Heidfeld's Sauber, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher achieved seven more championship p oints for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team by finishing in third and fourth positions respectively at the Austrian A-1 Ring.

Juan Pablo Montoya

"The safety car today decided the race, actually it made my race. I lost some time at the start due to the high fuel load but I had decided to go as far as I could before the pit stop and that paid off. Our decision to go for the hard tyres also paid off. The tyres were very consistent and I could keep them on until the end of the race. With regards to the accident between Heidfeld and Sato I was very lucky because my car wasn't touched at all. I was on the inside of Sato then I heard a big bang but I couldn't even see what had happened."

Ralf Schumacher

"For me everything was just perfect - the car, the engine, the tyres and the pit stop. I think that without the safety car periods I could have defended my third position. Due to the action packed race and the different strategies it is difficult to say howbig Ferrari's advantage really was here on the A1-Ring. We have to continue to work hard, this much is clear."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"First of all I hope that Sato is okay. Regarding our team it was well done from Juan Pablo and from Ralf, both did a good job today. I think our strategy with one stop each was the right one, but of course we did not take into account the two safety car periods. During the second safety car we might have had a chance to change our schedule a little bit by calling Ralf in earlier, but we had to keep the pit lane clear because it looked at that time as if Juan had a problem with a damaged front wing. In fact it was okay. At the end of the day both of our drivers had solid drives."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director):

"For us it was a flawless race. This circuit is very demanding on the engines, which we had known in advance and which was highlighted by several engine failures during the race. We have got both the cars to finish the race and both the drivers did a very good job without any mistakes. The different strategies - one stop for us and two stops for Ferrari - might have distorted the comparison a little bit, but it is clear that we are still a big step behind the red cars."

Weather: dry, 21C Air, 27C Track

Juan Pablo Montoya: 3rd
Chassis: FW24 05
Fastest Lap: 1:09.853 on lap 70 (3rd fastest overall)

Ralf Schumacher: 4th
Chassis: FW24 04
Fastest Lap: 1:09.862 on lap 66 (4th fastest overall)

-williams-