British GP Williams race notes

It was a very good Easter for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, who found a pleasant surprise in their egg, in the form of five more valuable points thanks to the fourth and fifth places of Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button respectively.

Ralf Schumacher
Final Position: 4th
Best Time: 1:26.998
Chassis: FW22 03
"I think today we showed a good performance and proved that WilliamsF1 as well as BMW has definitely done a very good job. After the start I found the right spot to pass Michael and also Villeneuve. This was very good because I was on a two-stop strategy and I had to gain as much advantage as I could. My car, especially after the second stop, was very good to drive so that I could easily bring the car home in fourth place."

Jenson Button
Final Position: 5th
Best Time: 1:27.631
Chassis: FW22 04
"I am of course very pleased with my result. I finished my second race of the season (out of four) and scored my first 'real' points right here, in my home race. I think the best moment for me was getting past Michael Schumacher on the first corner after the start. It was an amazing feeling racing in the top group, I was following Mika Hakkinen for so long and then leading him after the pit stop. And I think I also learnt something from it! I knew this circuit more than the others I have raced on so far and it's good for the team to have both Ralf and myself in the points."

Frank Williams
"I am delighted with the result, almost better than we could have hoped for, in a way. I liked the way Ralf dusted off his brother quick smart in the first few laps. They beat us in the end but we were certainly much closer to the two currently dominating teams than we have been in the previous races. We now have a good way forward to follow."

Patrick Head (Technical Director WilliamsF1)
"It was obviously very pleasing to get two cars in the points. At the present level to be beaten by the McLarens and the sole running Ferrari is the best we can expect. After a difficult Imola where we had quite a few problems and neither car finished the race it's good to have a recovery where the cars were reliable from a mechanical point of view throughout practice and the race."

Dr Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)
"This was our best race-weekend so far: in the race we gained fourth and fifth places thanks to our own strength and we have performed consistently for all of the past three days. We didn't experience any real engine problems, here all weekend. To be for the third time in the points after the fourth race clearly passes our expectations at this stage of our programme. This is thanks to a good team and to a good test and development squad in Munich. In the last weeks they worked tirelessly to further improve the reliability of our BMW engine. We are very pleased to be presently third in the Constructor’s Championship."