Brazilian GP Williams Friday notes

Weather: Sunny and dry. Air temperature 27C average.
Track temperature 26C average.

BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were 4th and 6th in the first free practice sessions of the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix. Due to a gearbox problem Ralf could achieve no timed laps in the first session.

Prior to coming to Sao Paulo, Patrick Head, Dr Mario Theissen and Dr Werner Laurenz visited the CENPES in Rio de Janeiro, headquarters and plant of the team's fuel supplier, Petrobras.

Juan Pablo Montoya
"I am pleased with today's performance, because I can see that the car has definitely improved from the first race. For the first time on a Friday we didn't experience any problems and this allowed me to achieve a good number of laps on this track which is completely unknown to me. It's a tricky circuit, as it presents several very different parts, which would require different set-ups. If we manage to solve some understeer problems, I am quite confident we could maintain a good position tomorrow."

Ralf Schumacher
"I didn't have much opportunity today to work on my car. Due to a gearbox problem we lost a lot of time in the first session and some of the second. I could not go out on the track until quite late and I am not still happy with the set-up. We have to work on it. Tomorrow there will be more rubber on the track and the tyre will do a better job."

Patrick Head
"We had a useful day with Juan Pablo who had to learn the circuit and has done a lot of homework for the race and race set-up. Obviously he has learnt this circuit very quickly. Ralf had a more troubled day, experiencing a very unusual problem in the gearbox, a bearing problem. We changed the gearbox and the hydraulics - just in case - for the afternoon. Then he had a trip off the circuit on his first run, which did a little bit of damage but he made progress through the practice doing a very good job catching up and allowing us to get some good comparison information between the two cars. Now we've got to focus on our grid position tomorrow."

Dr Mario Theissen
"Interlagos is very demanding on the engine side, particularly on the uphill straight, where lots of power is required. Therefore it is quite pleasing to see that we are at the top in terms of speed. So far there was no trouble at all on the engine side.

-Williams