European GP: Williams Friday qualifying notes

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers were fortunate today to complete their qualifying laps in dry conditions. The rain started to fall half-way through the session, severely hampering the runs of half of the field. Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher achieved the 3rd and 4th best times respectively.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"I am reasonably satisfied with my qualifying lap today, despite losing a bit of time in the first corner. I turned in and my car just understeered. I had suffered from some understeer during this morning's Free Practice too, but apart from that it was quite good and I believe we should be pretty strong for the weekend as we've got a great car. With regards to the new chicane, I must say that I preferred the old one as I think it was more exciting. We seem to be able to pick up the pace here, and this is what counts. We are aiming to be ahead of Ferrari and McLaren and I am confident we've got the equipment to do so."

Ralf Schumacher:

"My flying lap was more or less all right and the car had quite a good balance. I didn't really get the last chicane right, which cost me some fractions. However I believe we are facing a demanding weekend here as McLaren seem to be very strong on this track. We still have a lot of work to do in order to improve the car's set-up for tomorrow and the race. With regards to the changes to the NGK corner, I must say I like it now more than it was before."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"It was a good Friday to start the weekend with. The improvements we brought to our cars are working and we are looking forward to having a competitive weekend. I am not too happy with some of the changes to the circuit as we saw a lot of car damage this morning. Hopefully there will be improvements for tomorrow."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director):

"Today's sessions showed that this track suits the Michelin tyres well. However, we cannot take into consideration the times set when the rain had started to fall. Both our drivers produced good laps and were almost identical in time and they both can be pleased with their performances."

Juan Pablo Montoya: 3rd
Chassis: FW25 06
Best time: 1.30,378min

Ralf Schumacher: 4th
Chassis: FW25 07
(Spare car FW 04)
Best time: 1.30,522min

-williams-