British GP: Williams Friday qualifying notes

On a typical British day, with grey sky and light drizzle, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher qualified second and third in the First Qualifying session for the British Grand Prix. This will provide the two BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers with a good start position for tomorrow's Final Qualifying, taking to the track for the two penultimate laps of the session.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"My car had was very well balanced in qualifying and it felt really good. It's an improvement as this morning I had a bit of a struggle finding the balance and I thought qualifying could be tough. My engineers and all the team did an excellent job in setting up my car so well, and the they deserve my thanks. However, I hope there's more to come in our car for Saturday because Ferrari is going to be very strong here."

Ralf Schumacher:

"My car was not at all bad. I experienced some understeer. but this is something we can sort out, so in summary it was a good Friday session. Since the First Qualifying is not critical for the final grid, it is important to complete a safe lap in order to ensure a good starting position for the Final Qualifying on Saturday. Ferrari seem to be very strong here, which is no surprise. I think the circuit's lay-out and the current weather conditions suit the Ferrari package pretty well. However, we have had similar gaps to Ferrari on Fridays before now, so I am not too worried."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"This was good start to the weekend with both drivers up at the front. Tonight we will look at the race set up and consider our strategy. We are quite confident to have another strong race performance this weekend."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"Lap times are very close and the first eight drivers are only covered by just one second. Michael Schumacher has fulfilled the general expectation to be favourite, and behind him are both our drivers in a good position. The weather will be the deciding factor in final qualifying as we cannot be sure that every driver will qualify under the same conditions."

Juan Pablo Montoya: 2nd
Chassis: FW25 06
(Spare car FW 04)
Best time: 1:19.749min

Ralf Schumacher: 3rd
Chassis: FW25 07
Best time: 1:19.788min

-williams-