British GP: Williams Saturday notes

Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his fourth successive pole in the dying seconds of today's qualifying session for the 2002 British Grand Prix, with BMW WilliamsF1 Team-mate Ralf Schumacher sandwiching the two Ferraris for fourth place. After a slow start to the session with few contenders emerging from their garages for the first 20 minutes of the session, no less than twenty cars took to the track in the last three minutes of the hour with Juan Pablo claiming pole in a gripping conclusion to the session.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"I really do not know where this great result came from. I was not expecting to get on the first row at all. We did quite a few changes to the car throughout qualifying and obviously it paid off. We will now work on the strategy to make the best choice for the race, but my main concern is to finish and collect some points, which I have failed to do for the last four races. It is great to be on pole here, especially for all the people back at the factory in Grove as this is their home Grand Prix."

Ralf Schumacher:

"It is not too bad to start a race from fourth position. At the beginning of qualifying everything was going quite well but at the end it became more difficult and I could not improve. For my last flying lap we made a few more changes, but they didn't provide any advantage. However, it will be hard to challenge Ferrari in the race."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1)

"A good day, the drivers, engineers and mechanics all worked hard, and Juan took a big jump to pole at the end of the session, which was great. It is also rewarding to perform well on this track where downforce is so important, and all the data we have shows us the new aero package is working well. The tyres appear strong, which gives us confidence for the race tomorrow."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director)

"This was a very impressive performance by Juan. We did not expect to be on pole here. His last lap was simply unbelievable - you could call it the Montoya factor. Now that we achieved the fourth pole position in a row, I really hope we will make it onto the podium tomorrow. Ralf has started pretty well but due to some understeer he was not able to improve towards the end of the session. However, having one car in front row and the other one on second row are very good starting positions. We want to re-establish our position in the Championship here."

-williams-