WilliamsF1 disappointing in Friday Qualifying

Juan Pablo would finish only in tenth while Ralf was way down the order in sixteenth. Overall the performance of the new FW25 again was something that must have given the team reason to be concerned.

With the rule changes we were faced with seeing the cars run in a qualifying session on the Friday as well as the usual Saturday, but the Saturday qualifying is based on the times achieved on Friday. Those drivers who were the fastest on Friday will be last to complete their single lap qualifying runs on Saturday.

For Ralf his qualifying lap would see him be the fourth driver to take to the track but we were greeted with the sight of him running wide as he tried to negotiate the first series of corners after the start-finish straight. He would put his WilliamsF1 BMW FW 25 onto the curbs and over onto the the grass with the resulting loss in time.

He would finish with a lap time of 1m:28.266 which was only good enough for sixteenth. At least the BMW engine certainly proved that it is able to allow the WilliamsF1 cars to set very high top speeds, with Ralf setting the fastest speed of 314.4 km/h.

Juan Pablo would take to the track as the third driver, as he finished third in the 2002 championship, and would finish with a time of 1m:27.450 seeing him finish in tenth. Come Saturday qualifying the WilliamsF1 drivers will be the fifth, Ralf, and eleventh, Juan Pablo, cars to run.

BMW Motorsport Director Gerhard Berger made the following comments: “We gave everything. Ralf made a mistake in the first section, Juan Pablo had a trouble free lap, and wasn’t unhappy with his car. We will improve tomorrow.”

At the top of the times was Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, 1m:26.372, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and an impressive Jacques Villeneuve. Current world champion Michael Schumacher would take to the track first but could only finish fourth with a best time of 1m:27.103.

In fifth would be BAR driver Jenson Button, allowing BAR a small smile after seeing both their cars do so well. Next was McLaren's David Coulthard who would finish in sixth.

For the WilliamsF1 team qualifying must have been a major disappointment when one considers that both Ralf and Juan Pablo, in the opening practice, were able to set times faster than those of 2002. But come qualifying the results simply did not come for the team.

It was interesting to note that the team had gone back to running the FW25 with the same aerodynamic devices in front of the radiators as they used on the FW24. Previously the cars were fitted with the more familiar barge boards.

Also like all the other drivers we would see the WilliamsF1 drivers using for the first time at a Grand Prix the Hans devices that are designed to reduce the likelihood of injury to a drivers neck in an accident.

Now with the factor of the race coming into play in the second qualifying session it is most unlikely that we will see a BMW WilliamsF1 car right at the front of the grid.