Formula 1
European GP: Williams race notes
After a strong qualifying performance the BMW WilliamsF1 Team could not benefit from their grid positions due to handling problems. Ralf Schumacher scored three more points by finishing in fourth position but Juan Pablo Montoya spun off hitting ...
Published: Jun 24, 2002, 4:53 PM
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After a strong qualifying performance the BMW WilliamsF1 Team could not benefit from their grid positions due to handling problems. Ralf Schumacher scored three more points by finishing in fourth position but Juan Pablo Montoya spun off hitting David Coulthard in the process.
Ralf Schumacher
"On one side I am disappointed with position four, on the other side I must confess that we knew we were going to have a very hard race against Ferrari. I had a good start and passed Juan on the first corner because I started on new tyres. Unfortunately I couldn't stay in the lead for very long. Ferrari is simply extremely strong in the race, at present. My car was incredibly difficult to drive as we had some tyre problems from early in the race. I must say though that this doesn't depend on Michelin, but on us getting the car right for the tyres."
Juan Pablo Montoya
"For the third time in a row I didn't finish the race after being on pole. At the start I lost the lead to Ralf who passed me at the first hairpin. I didn't try to protect my position and risk sending the two of us out of the race. Then I was struggling massively with the handling of my car. The car was almost undrivable but I still had some laps to go before my pit-stop. Eventually I couldn't help spinning coming into the first corner and I unfortunately hit Coulthard who was close behind me, putting an early end to our race. When I came back to the paddock I apologised to David."
Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):
"We had a poor performance today. We had a similar problem to the Monaco race where we had extreme wear on the rear tyres of both cars. We had to pull Ralf's pit-stop forward by a long way but Juan didn't make it. Unfortunately he took David Coulthard off and he apologised. We have a lot of work to do and it's clear where our problem lies."
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"After such a strong qualifying with both our cars, we were obviously the favourite team for this race. But already in the warm up the Ferrari cars showed how extraordinarily quick they were with their race set-up. Both our drivers were unhappy with the behaviour of their cars. On the engine side there was no problems during the entire weekend. The measures we took after the Monaco and the Canadian Grands Prix clearly paid off."
Ralf Schumacher: 4th
Chassis: FW24 06
Fastest Lap: 1:33,856 on lap 49 (5th overall)
Juan Pablo Montoya: DNF (on lap 28 in 4th position)
Chassis: FW24 05
Fastest Lap: 1:34,635 on lap 21 (11th overall)
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