Formula 1
Japanese GP: Williams Friday notes
Apart from the last few minutes, when Juan Pablo Montoya went off the track and crashed into the barriers, it was quite a positive free practice session for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team for the last race of the season, the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix.
Published: Oct 12, 2002, 1:38 PM
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Apart from the last few minutes, when Juan Pablo Montoya went off the track and crashed into the barriers, it was quite a positive free practice session for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team for the last race of the season, the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix. Montoya was fourth and team-mate Ralf Schumacher achieved the fifth best time.
Juan Pablo Montoya
"It was a smooth session if it hadn't been for the last part of it. In the last minutes I had a bad crash which damaged my car quite heavily. I went on the throttle like always and I thought I was going to make the corner fine but instead I went over the sharp part of the kerb and lost the car. The impact was hard and I am still a bit sore. With regards to the balance of my car there's still room for improvement."
Ralf Schumacher
"Suzuka is a great track and I drive here with great pleasure. I had a good free practice session where we tried all that was scheduled and we have also made some progress with regards to the tyre choice. I am quite happy with the balance of my car."
Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):
"A normal Friday programme working on race set-up. We made some progress during the day as we made some big changes to the car and the car responded well. The tyre choice will be difficult as Michelin have brought two good compounds here so we have to analyse the data later on and see which tyre is better. All in all we are happy with today's performance."
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"With 44 and 38 laps both the drivers have completed a very extensive programme. It is a pity that Juan Pablo had a crash in the last five minutes. As usual on a Friday we focused today on the car set-up for this track. Both the engines ran trouble free in both sessions."
Juan Pablo Montoya: 4th
Chassis: FW24 04
Best time: 1.35,742 min
Ralf Schumacher: 5th
Chassis: FW24 06 (T-Car FW24 02)
Best time: 1.35,995 min
-williams-
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