Malaysian GP Williams race notes

Disappointing last race of a very successful season for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, as neither of the drivers saw the chequered flag. The team confirmed anyway its third position in the Constructors' Championship with Ralf Schumacher retaining his fifth place in the Drivers' series.

Ralf Schumacher
"I am massively disappointed, as starting from the eighth position I could have scored some points. My start was good even though my car was quite heavy, because of our one-stop strategy. I lost seventh place on lap one, when I was forced onto the grass when I was alongside a Jaguar. I couldn't even think about chasing the cars in front of me as I was suffering from big understeer. Even after the pit-stop my car's behaviour was only slightly better. When I was called in by the radio, my race was definitely over."

Jenson Button
"That definitely was not the way I wanted to end this season. The start was good, I managed to jump from 16th to 10th position. It wasn't looking too bad and with our strategy I think it could have worked out very well. But suddenly I saw some smoke coming out from the back of the car and the engine just died on the straight. This has been the best year of my life. I say thanks to the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, they have done a great job. It's a great pity to be leaving. Everyone in the team has been excellent and I can't wait to come back in 2003."

Frank Williams
"Disappointing end of the season, but perhaps a gentle prod in the direction of all the things we know we have to put right for next year (as is always the case for every team)."

Dr Mario Theissen
"This obviously isn't a fairy-tale end to a fantastic season. We started the race with high performance engines in both cars of the specification introduced at Spa but unfortunately Jenson was stopped by an engine failure, the cause of which we will only be able to know in Munich. In Ralf's car there was a malfunction in the engine oil supply system. In order to avoid an unnecessary failure we called him in. We are disappointed now, of course, but I think that later in the evening we will only feel the pleasure of having achieved the third position in the Constructors' Championship in a more than positive debut season."