Monaco GP: Williams race notes

A mixed result for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team in the 2002 Monaco Grand Prix. Ralf Schumacher scored four more points achieving third position whereas team mate Juan Pablo Montoya, who had started from pole, gave up second position on lap 47 due to an engine failure.

Ralf Schumacher

"I am really happy that I have finally finished a race in Monaco, the first since my days in Formula 3 and on top of that achieving a podium. After five retirements here in F1 I was starting to believe that Monte Carlo doesn't like me at all. We have had a superb car all weekend but this wasn't enough to beat Ferrari and McLaren. I had to make an additional pit stop because something was wrong with my rear left tyre, but luckily my advantage over Jarno Trulli was big enough to maintain third position. Earlier in the race I could see Michael and Juan Pablo fighting in front of me and I thought that I should stay back as you never know what might happen."

Juan Pablo Montoya

"I am disappointed I could not finish this race. It's a true shame that we had an engine failure as the car and the engine had behaved very well all weekend. I had a bad start and lost the lead but during the race I knew the pace was there and I managed to keep my head together, I was ahead of Michael and we could have taken away some points from him, but that's racing! I felt a loss of engine power and unfortunately my race was finished. It had been a very interesting race until this happened."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"A disappointing day to come away with only a third place after our strong grid positions. It showed a lack of performance in race conditions on this type of circuit. We had some traction problems that our competitors dealt with better, which forced us to an early pit stop. Ralf then had another stop because of a problem with his rear tyre. Still, we go away from Monaco with more points, which is good."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director):

"Normally one should be pleased with third place, but on the other hand from pole position one is racing for victory, of course. It has been a great weekend for Formula One as we have seen today and in qualifying very good fights for the top positions. David Coulthard drove a perfect race today with McLaren-Mercedes. It is good that Ralf was able to keep third position in spite of his additional stop. It is a pity that Juan retired with an engine failure after fighting brave. We still do not know the reason for it."

Ralf Schumacher: 3rd
Chassis: FW24 06
Fastest Lap: 1:19,489 on lap 61

Juan Pablo Montoya: DNF
Chassis: FW24 05
Fastest Lap: 1:20,346 on lap 36

-williams-