Monaco GP: Williams Thursday practice notes

Not an easy start for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team to the Monaco Grand Prix, with Ralf Schumacher suffering an engine failure in the first Free Practice session and then having to catch up with set up work in the second session. Juan Pablo Montoya finished ninth and tenth in the two sessions prior to Sunday's Monaco GP.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"I exploited as much as I could today's free practice sessions, evaluating tyres and also trying different aero parts. We need to work more on the set-up, because it's not ideal yet but above all I believe we are still not quick enough. The new pits are a great improvement even if they have a very unusual configuration, and they provide a more suitable and safer working environment for all the teams."

Ralf Schumacher:

"The engine problem I had at the beginning of today's first session undermined all my plans for this weekend, of course. Adding to the penalty that I will have to start ten places further back on the grid, I have also lost a lot of valuable time for setting up the car. This means we have a lot of work ahead of us for Saturday's practice. This is not an ideal situation, but I'll make the best of it."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"We have had a difficult first day here in Monaco. Juan tried various set-up changes for the race and we also evaluated some different brake cooling options on both cars, we now have a good choice for the race. After missing the first session, Ralf concentrated on long runs for the race set up in the afternoon session."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"There was a defect on Ralf's car engine right at the beginning of the first Free Practice session, shown by telemetry data as well as oil samples. We need to strip it down to understand what the exact reason was. The engine is now being taken immediately to the factory in Munich and we expect to know by Friday the outcome of the analysis. For the second Free Practice session we put a new engine in Ralf's car, which will automatically drop him 10 places on the starting grid. He has spent the second session trying to catch up with the set-up work. On Juan Pablo's car everything ran smoothly concerning the engine."

Juan Pablo Montoya
Chassis: FW26 06
(Spare car FW26 05)
Practice session 1: 9th, 1:17.937
Practice session 2: 10th, 1:16.097

Ralf Schumacher
Chassis: FW26 07
(Spare car FW26 03)
Practice session 1: no time
Practice session 2: 12th, 1:16.556

-williams-