Malaysian GP: Williams Friday practice notes

On a tropical Malaysian afternoon, with the heat index reaching 46°C during the second Free Practice session, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya and their FW26 coped encouragingly well, ending up 2nd and 5th fastest respectively. Earlier in the first Free Practice Session Ralf Schumacher finished 5th and Juan Pablo Montoya finished 8th.

Ralf Schumacher:

I have to say that I am very happy with the car. We focused on our homework intensely and have completed our programme without too many problems. This fact makes me very confident for tomorrow's Qualifying. We are still discussing about what our tyre choice will be, but I am sure we'll find a good solution.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

There's still room for improvement. I know there's more to come in the car than what I could show today, so it's just a matter of exploiting my FW26 at its best. I had some grip problems, so not ideal conditions for setting a fast time however, I am confident we can improve for tomorrow's Qualifying.

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

We've had a productive day as we went though our programme of testing tyres on both cars, and had no mechanical problems. We are sure we have enough information to make our tyre choice. The pace of our cars looks reasonable in the high ambience temperature, but we won't know until the end of Sunday what everyone's true pace is.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

We had a trouble free Practice, today. Both the drivers could complete their programme. In the First session we focused on the car set-up whereas the Second session was spent collecting data in order to make the right tyre choice. In spite of the heat, the engine temperature always remained within green levels.

Ralf Schumacher: 2nd
Chassis: FW26 03
(Spare car FW25 02)
Best time: 1.34.693min

Juan Pablo Montoya: 5th
Chassis: FW26 05
Best time: 1.35.100min

-williams-