Making the headlines 2001-08-02

Headlines 2001-08-02

by Erica Southey - Motorsport.com

BAR tyre choice uncertain
Williams BMW’s good performance on the Michellin tyres has drawn the attention from a couple of teams who run the Bridgestone tyres. One such team is BAR who will leave their tyre choice till the end of the season. Team boss, Craig Pollock said that he was impressed with Bridgestone’s performance, but didn’t indicate whether BAR will go with Bridgestone next season.

Pollock: "We're still open at the moment and although we've got to make up our minds, I think the decision will be made at the end of the season," he said. "I feel Bridgestone have done better than we had expected them to do, as we were worried about their reaction time, but they have actually started to react pretty well."

Montoya confident he’ll stay at Williams
Rookie sensation Juan Pablo Montoya is confident that his contract with Williams is safe, despite his missing out on two wins. One can hardly blame Montoya who was robbed of two potential wins through no fault of his own. At Malaysia it was Jos Verstappen who ran into the back of Montoya while at Hockenheim, a fuel stop gone horribly wrong had him retire with a blown engine. A bad pitstop strategy at Silverstone thwarted what could possibly have been a third victory or another second place on the podium.

On his contract Montoya responded: "I believe I've done a pretty good job this year, I've shown I have the ability to win races and to be in front, so it's up to them. I don't feel insecure, but I don't want to give it away by doing something really dumb. With Frank, a contract does mean a lot because I don't think he is a guy who doesn't obey it."

Championship Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher stated that he won’t be challenging brother Michael for this season’s World Driver Championship, but the younger Schumacher wants to be second. If this is possible then the Schumachers will be rewriting F1 history books. Ralf will give it all he’s got to make this dream come true.

On nearest rival David Coulthard, Ralf had this to say: "There is a good chance for me to take second in the championship, David seems to be having a few problems and we should take advantage of that and aim for second place in the drivers championship.”

Luciano Burti will rest arm
A horror crash at the German GP left Luciano Burti with a minor injury to his arm. After crashing into the back of the stationary Ferrari of Michael Schumacher Burti’s car did a somersault mid-air before crashing into a tyre barrier at the Hockenheim circuit. This injury forced him to retire from the race after the restart. Burti is currently at home in Brazil to take a much-needed vacation and to rest his arm before the Hungarian GP on 19 August 2001.