British GP: Williams Friday practice notes

BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers enjoyed a trouble free start to the British Grand Prix weekend with two smooth practice sessions for Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gené. The day was also notable for an announcement renewing the team's principal partnership with HP.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"We made some good evaluation tests today. Track conditions were changing quite a lot throughout the sessions but nevertheless we went through our scheduled programme and I can say I am reasonably happy with the balance of my car. Weather has been better than yesterday, even if still quite cold, and I definitely hope for some more dry running tomorrow."

Marc Gené:

"All in all it was a positive day. We have been working on tyre evaluation like everyone today and we also made some set-up changes. The car did not always behave as expected though, so we need to sit down now and carefully go through the data we have collected, in order to have a better understanding of the situation. What tyre we I will use for qualifying and in the race is still undecided at the moment."

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):

"We have had a productive day with no mechanical problems, looking at tyre evaluation and race set up. The weather in Silverstone is different to normal as it is colder compared to other tracks. That affects the set up of the car and the tyre selection. We will look at the data tonight to make the right decisions. The weather looks like it is going to stay like this all weekend."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"Compared with last Friday in Magny-Cours, we had today a good, trouble free day, with both the drivers completing their programme, which was important for us in order to get some more running with our new aero package. We had no problems on the engine side."

Juan Pablo Montoya
Chassis: FW26 06
(Spare car FW26 05)
Practice session 1: 3rd, 1:19.502
Practice session 2: 11th, 1:19.746

Marc Gené
Chassis: FW26 07
Practice session 1: 4th, 1:19.687
Practice session 2: 7th, 1:19.540

-williams-