Malaysian GP Williams qualifying notes

For the second race of the 2001 season, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya will start from the second and third row, having qualified 3rd and 6th respectively.

Ralf Schumacher
"I am definitely surprised, I didn't expect to be so close to this position, especially after where we were yesterday. I had several positive laps and a truly brilliant third run and it's clear that we have a very good package. I don't see ourselves out-racing Ferrari and McLaren tomorrow, partly because Michelin haven't ever raced on this track. However, I am confident that we will score some points tomorrow, which I couldn't achieve in Melbourne. The biggest difference between here and Australia is that the tyres are now much better suited to the circuit as Albert Park was the first shot for Michelin. It was fun to fight with my brother, I can imagine how our parents must have been feeling watching the duel at home!"

Juan Pablo Montoya
"I am very happy with my sixth position. I could have been even a bit further up but on my last flying lap I drove within myself in the last sector, after I had a bad spin on a previous lap. Considering that I hardly ran yesterday, I cannot be anything but pleased with my result."

Patrick Head
"Obviously a pleasing qualifying session and very good improvements by Ralf on each run. He got the very best out of the car. We are very impressed with the Michelin tyres and of course with the BMW engine, which proved to be really strong. For Juan it is a good achievement as well for he recovered remarkably from his lost first day of practice."

Gerhard Berger
"It's quite funny to see the Schumacher brothers fighting for the pole position. This was a perfect performance from the whole team. When you reach that situation it means that every factor has worked well: the driver must use the package in the best way, you need a good chassis, good tyres and also a good engine. We have achieved here the top speeds, as we did in Melbourne. There we had to fight against some other problems but here we could get to our target, that we had set ourselves before the start of the season. I think that this year we should be able to place several times at the front end of the grid."

- Williams F1