French GP Williams race notes
Ralf Schumacher finished the French Grand Prix in second space and took third in the Drivers' World Championship. Juan Pablo Montoya retired 20 laps before the end with a technical problem but looked likely to finish second. Ralf ...
Ralf Schumacher finished the French Grand Prix in second space and took third in the Drivers' World Championship. Juan Pablo Montoya retired 20 laps before the end with a technical problem but looked likely to finish second.
Ralf Schumacher
"Second place is good, but of course from pole you hope to win. I expected to
beat Michael at the start, which worked, but after a few metres I had
problems with the brake balance. Later we had a problem at the first pit stop
and then my second set of tyres did not work well so I pitted early for my
second stop. Juan Pablo would have finished ahead of me, so it is a pity for
him he had a problem."
Juan Pablo Montoya
"I think we had a problem with the engine as the lap before it started losing
power and then it just died. I am a bit frustrated, but yesterday we
sacrificed the performance in qualifying for the race and it paid off as I
was running second. I was pretty pleased with the performance of the car in
the race.The main thing was being on a different strategy to Ralf to try and
beat him and I was ahead of him."
Patrick Head (Technical Director, WilliamsF1)
"Obviously a mixture of pleasure for Ralf's second place and disappointment
because Juan Pablo retired. It would have been nice to have Juan Pablo on the
podium as well.There was a problem with Ralf's first stop, which messed his
race up a bit, but all in all again a good result for us and we are looking
forward to Silverstone."
Dr. Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)
"Even though we had some problems with our tyres, we managed another second
place, collected six points and are very happy with this. We have now had
three consecutive podium positions, which no one expected before the start of
the season. Juan Pablo's retirement looks very much as if it was due to an
engine failure. We will find out the reason when we get the engine back to
Munich."
Testing: Barcelona - 3/5/6 July Marc Gené - 4 July Juan Pablo Montoya: Lurcy-Levis - 3/4/5 July Ricardo Sperafico
Goodwood Festival of Speed - 7 July Juan Pablo Montoya (FW22)
-Williams
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