Silverstone Williams test 2001-03-07

Blast from the past: this test is being conducted with FW22B's in 2000 season livery

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team today began the first of a three-day test programme at Silverstone. While Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya are having a break respectively in Malaysia and Australia, so official test driver, Marc Gene, was on duty for both the cars present at the circuit. The wet track allowed the team to switch onto dry tyres only in the late morning.

Marc Gene "I am very glad I could come back here to Silverstone as it feels like a second home to me. I actually lived in Buckingham for four years when I was at the University. Having driven for an Italian team so far it means that I haven't been testing here for a good while. Talking about the job, we had a pretty regular test day, completing a fairly normal number of laps split between the two cars. I'm sure we'll be able to complete our programme over the following two days. "

Sam Michael (WilliamsF1 Chief Operations Engineer) "Today we were in Silverstone with two FW22s working on software, suspension and gearbox development items. Marc is driving both the cars and we are also testing some components for reliability prior to the Malaysian GP. We are continuing tomorrow with the same items plus also some tyre testing."

-WilliamsF1