US GP: Williams Saturday notes

The drivers of the BMW WiliamsF1 Team will start the 2002 US Grand Prix from the second and third rows. Juan Pablo Montoya missed out third position at the last moment by one thousandth of a second and will therefore start from position four, in front of team mate Ralf Schumacher who qualified fifth fastest.

Juan Pablo Montoya: 4th

Not the qualifying session result I was expecting at all. It is disappointing and very frustrating especially because I was in third position until the last moment and then I lost it by one thousandth of a second. Tomorrow I am starting my race from the dirty side of the track and this is not really helpful. But this is racing. Today we just could not get a good balance. I think at the moment we just haven't got the speed to beat Ferrari.

Ralf Schumacher: 5th

We cannot be happy, of course. It is very difficult to find the right balance for the car here. I had continuous set-up problems. The tyres were all right and I think they are also looking quite good for tomorrow. Anyway, it is going to be a very difficult race for us.

Sam Michael(Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1)

It is obviously disappointing, especially if we look at the gap to the Ferraris. We thought we could have done better here, but his is where we are with our car. We will now concerntrate on our race preparation in order to make the most of our grid positions. It will be a tough race tomorrow.

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director)

It was clear this morning already that we didn't have a chance to start our race from the first row and that it would be difficult even to achieve the second row. This outcome was not really unexpected. The McLarens will also be challenging us tomorrow in the race. Whoever will be quickest tomorrow with low downforce race set-up in the infield section of the track will probably decide the race. The most important factor for us is getting both cars to the end and scoring some points in order to secure our second position in the Constructor's Championship.

Juan Pablo Montoya: 4th
Chassis: FW24 04 (T-Car FW24 02)
Best time: 1:11,414 min

Ralf Schumacher: 5th
Chassis: FW24 06
Best time: 1.11,587 min

-williams-