European GP: Williams Saturday qualifying notes

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team had no major problems in either of today's Free Practices and Qualifying sessions, but the result didn't match expectations, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher qualifying in 8th and 9th place respectively.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"I was one of the first cars out in the pre-qualifying session and that held us up a bit, but it looks like we are just not quick enough at the moment. I have been struggling a bit with the balance so far this weekend and it looked like in qualifying I had got it right, finally, but still, we lack of speed. Several teams seem to have improved their car quite a lot and we haven't improved enough. We'll see how the race goes, let's hope to get some good points out of here."

Ralf Schumacher:

"Ninth place is not where I expected to be, really. It was quite difficult to get the balance right for qualifying and I decided to go for something different, but it didn't work out particularly well. We tried our best but it's clear that we are struggling at the moment, since our car hasn't developed enough. At present we lack performance but I am sure we will definitely come back soon. With a good strategy I am confident I'll be able to collect some points in tomorrow's race."

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):

"It obviously was a disappointing qualifying session. We have had no real mechanical problems with either car and were hoping for a better result. We now will work hard tonight to see what we can do on our strategy to get some points tomorrow."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"In today's qualifying Michael Schumacher has again proved he is in a class of his own and he is obviously the favourite for the race. Behind the first row, there are seven drivers in three tenths of a second. Among them, Juan Pablo and Ralf have unhappily achieved position eight and nine. We had hoped to be more at the front, but both the drivers were not completely happy with their car in the final qualifying. Now we have to try and make up for the lost ground."

Juan Pablo Montoya
8th, 1.29.354
Chassis: FW26 06

Ralf Schumacher
9th, 1.29.459
Chassis: FW26 07
(T-car FW05)

-williams-