Japanese GP: Williams Friday practice notes

The warning signs of an approaching typhoon (typhoon n.22, as the Japanese have named it) was responsible for a very rainy Friday in Suzuka and little running during the first two free practice sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix. The BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers managed to complete both sessions without any incident under very difficult weather conditions.

Ralf Schumacher:

"Not much to say due to the amount of water on the track and the large amount of aquaplaning we had today. I would hope we could get some better work in tomorrow, but unfortunately it doesn't look this way at the moment. It would be more sensible not to run at all, tomorrow."

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"I cannot say much about the car really, because I had very little running today and we couldn't really work on anything. But it's the same for everyone. The track was massively wet at first but it wasn't too bad after a few cars had been running. Still, if the rain keeps increasing as it looks like it will, I'll be surprised if we will be running tomorrow. With the prospect of a dry race it will be interesting, very interesting!"

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):

"As it was a wet day today we did only a couple of short runs to check the car systems and also the balance in case it will be wet in qualifying or in the race. We hope to get some more running tomorrow but it looks like it will be wet then as well. Regardless it is the same for all teams and it should make it an interesting race."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"The warning signs of the typhoon have litterally soaked this first day of practice. If the weather conditions get worse, it will make no sense to run free practice and qualifying tomorrow."

Ralf Schumacher
Chassis: FW26 07
(Spare car FW26 06)
Practice session 1: 12th, 1.55.632
Practice session 2: 12th, 1.49.736

Juan Pablo Montoya
Chassis: FW26 05
Practice session 1: 8th, 1.53.517
Practice session 2: 13th, 1.50.060

-williams-