Monaco GP: Williams Saturday qualifying notes

Mark Webber secured himself a very good starting position for tomorrow's final qualifying session by setting the third fastest time, behind Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Renault), team-mate Nick Heidfeld was sixth fastest.

Mark Webber:

"I am definitely happy with my lap and to be in the top three again, even if the gap from Kimi is quite big. I was fourth fastest in the morning practice and I wasn't sure I could do as well in qualifying because the track conditions seemed to have deteriorated. But there you go!"

"This good result is mainly down to the people back at the factories in Grove and in Munich, they have been pushing very hard to catch up and if you look at the top positions it is obvious that Michelin is providing their teams with great tyres."

Nick Heidfeld:

"The track conditions were a bit worse than this morning and I had to go out quite early but I still set a quicker lap. I struggled a bit with low grip in the first sector, but after that it was fine. The set up of my car was good. Monaco is my second favourite track after Suzuka, so I am confident we can do a good job here."

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):

"With both cars in the top six, it was a good first qualifying session for us. As normal, tomorrow's session is the important one. The cars are working well around here and we are confident that we have made the right decisions on the set-up for the race. The engine cooling and brake temperatures seem to be fine as on Sunday we are expecting similar ambient temperatures as today."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"For our team this was a very good result with a low fuel load in the first qualifying session. Mark has especially driven a strong lap. Both drivers have now secured themselves good starting positions for tomorrow's final qualifying session. Ralf Schumacher's accident proved once again that in Monaco often between luck and bad luck there are only centimetres."

Mark Webber
3rd, 1:14.584
Chassis: FW27 05
BMW P84/5 engine: 2 GP

Nick Heidfeld
6th, 1:15.128
Chassis: FW27 06
(T-car FW27 04)
BMW P84/5 engine: 2 GP

-williams-