Formula 1
Japanese GP: Williams Saturday notes
In today's qualifying session for the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix Ralf Schumacher finished fifth just ahead of his team mate Juan Pablo Montoya. The session was suspended for over one hour due to a bad accident which befell Allan McNish's Toyota, ...
Published: Oct 12, 2002, 5:15 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In today's qualifying session for the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix Ralf Schumacher finished fifth just ahead of his team mate Juan Pablo Montoya. The session was suspended for over one hour due to a bad accident which befell Allan McNish's Toyota, fortunately with no consequences for the driver. Therefore, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers will start the season's final Grand Prix side by side from the third row.
Ralf Schumacher
"I was running quite well until McNish had his accident and I had to abort my lap and was called back into the pits, but you can't do anything about it. It is always nice to be in front of your team-mate even if also this time, as many times before, the gap is very tight. We are not happy to see both the McLarens in front of us but I am also sure that we will be able to make their life difficult in the race."
Juan Pablo Montoya
"A disappointing qualifying, no doubt about it. The car wasn't well balanced and I also made a couple of mistakes, especially in my last run, so I blew away my last chance to improve. It's a shame to start so far away on the grid. Unfortunately today I have equalled my worse qualifying position this year which I set in Australia."
Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):
"Having both the cars on the third row is quite a disappointing qualifying result. We are obviously far behind Ferrari and it is also pretty clear that the McLarens have moved in front of us here. But the race can be always a different story. We will concentrate on our race set-up now and see how we can finish the 2002 season."
Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director):
"The McLarens were strong as expected and this time they have pushed us back to the third row. I am expecting a difficult race but I also hope that we can improve our position and finish the last race of this season with a further podium position. A driver easily misses his rhythm in such a long break as we had today in the qualifying session but this was the same for everyone."
Ralf Schumacher: 5th
Chassis: FW24 06
Best time: 1.32,444 min
Juan Pablo Montoya: 6th
Chassis: FW24 04
(T-Car FW24 02)
Best time: 1:32,507 min
-williams-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Japanese GP: Toyota Saturday notes
Next article Japanese GP: Jordan Saturday notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Juan Pablo Montoya
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
IndyCar
IndyCar
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
Juan Pablo Montoya admires Franco Colapinto's "aggressive" approach despite Baku crash
Formula 1
Formula 1
Azerbaijan GP
Juan Pablo Montoya admires Franco Colapinto's "aggressive" approach despite Baku crash
Williams tipped for "huge step" forward at Azerbaijan GP with major upgrade
Formula 1
Formula 1
Spanish GP
Williams tipped for "huge step" forward at Azerbaijan GP with major upgrade
More from
Ferrari
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brazilian GP
3 h
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Latest news
Tim Clark wants NASCAR to be better storytellers to counter "brand perception problem"
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 10 min
Tim Clark wants NASCAR to be better storytellers to counter "brand perception problem"
Why NASCAR's Zane Smith fine for Carson Hocevar contact was consistent
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
37 min
Why NASCAR's Zane Smith fine for Carson Hocevar contact was consistent
Jimmie Johnson on the NASCAR business world: "It's a war"
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 47 min
Jimmie Johnson on the NASCAR business world: "It's a war"
David Alonso lashes out at Dani Holgado: "When you’re not a good person, there’s nothing you can do"
Moto2
MOT2 Moto2
Phillip Island
48 min
David Alonso lashes out at Dani Holgado: "When you’re not a good person, there’s nothing you can do"
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe