Braziliam GP Williams preview

The third act of the 2001 championship is resuming in São Paulo, with the Brazilian Grand Prix (1st April). The Interlagos track has been improved since last year and every driver looks forward to racing on the smoother tarmac. Juan Pablo Montoya -- racing this time not far away from his home country of Colombia - hopes for his first Grand Prix finish. There has been no rest for both the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers who were testing in Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya, in preparation for the South American race.

Ralf Schumacher
"The Brazilian Grand Prix is amongst the most demanding races of the F1 calendar. The Interlagos track should be a really good one for us, a bit like Malaysia. Usually in Brazil it's very warm, which helps our tyres and doesn't affect our engine, which is very good anyway. I see problems only if it should rain, because on a wet track or when it's drying out, we still have some gaps. I hope that the track surface has been really improved, because in the past years I experienced a real pounding so much so that after a few laps I already had a headache. Otherwise I am very pleased to enjoy again the great Brazilian steaks!"

Juan Pablo Montoya
"The Brazilian GP should be a positive race weekend, as Interlagos is a good track for us. But theoretically Malaysia wasn't supposed to be a good track for us and we were pretty quick so, you can never tell. I've never been there but I have fond memories of Brazil because I've raced in Rio de Janeiro with the Champ Cars and I won there. It should be pretty exciting, as this is the closest race to my Country. I expect to be lots of Colombian fans there and this will be a really great sensation. This week I had one day of testing in Barcelona and now I'm spending a couple of days in Madrid with my girlfriend. I need to recover, as I am still a bit jet-lagged: in the morning I am still waking up at 5:00am. Before flying to São Paulo I will spend a few days in Colombia."

Frank Williams
"I am really looking forward to this race to be competitive once again. A good long straight presents very good passing opportunities beyond the pits. I've always thought Interlagos provided a fine track for exciting racing. Let's hope we're part of the action"

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director)
"Both the Melbourne and Sepang circuits required a higher level of downforce, which was quite difficult to achieve due to this year's rule changes. Interlagos is going to be the first track of the 2001 calendar where less downforce is required. In São Paulo again, we will have to deal with high temperatures, but no different to that we have already experienced, anyway. The Malaysian heat turned out being very positive for Michelin, and also on the engine side we could get further trust in our reliability. In Interlagos the engine power is very important on the circuit's two long straights, one of which, furthermore, is uphill. All in all we are looking confidently at the Brazilian Grand Prix where we hope to collect some more points."

* The 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix gets underway at he Interlagos track at 14:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Sunday 1st of April. A total race distance of 305.909 km (190,124 miles) will be covered at the Interlagos Circuit (4.309km -- 2.678 miles) where Michael Schumacher holds the lap record of 1m14.755s (Ferrari - 2000). The 2000 race winner was Michael Schumacher.

-Williams