WilliamsF1 Team Comments: Canadian GP

By Andrew Hooper
June 16 2003



	Canadian GP Race - Team Comments

	The Canadian Grand Prix has been a positive weekend for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team: After starting from the front row with both cars for the first time this season Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya both finished on the podium. The German came second behind his brother who has now taken over the championship lead from Kimi Raikkonen. The last time both drivers of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team joined the podium ceremony together in the same positions but in opposite order, was at the German Grand Prix in 2002. Ralf is now fourth in the driver's championship with Juan Pablo fifth whilst the BMW WilliamsF1 Team consolidated third position in the Constructors and have closed the gap to the leading team ( Ferrari ) which is now just 21 points ahead. The Team will be testing at Silverstone on: 17-19 June, Juan Pablo Montoya Jerez Test: 17-20 June, Marc Gené

	Juan Pablo Montoya "It was a good performance from us today but we had hoped for an even better result. I made a mistake on lap two and lost a few positions so I had to fight my way up again. I had a hard race. Due to some brake problems I missed the chicane a couple of times and from lap one I had to use the manual downshift, which I am not really used to. I had the same problem Ralf had with the rear mirror which broke and was flopping in front of my face and was distracting me. In the end I could catch up with Ralf and Michael but had no chance to pass them. To- day we proved again that our cars have improved and that we are definitely on our way up."

	Ralf Schumacher "Eight points for me and six for Juan , these two podium finishes are super for our team. Obviously it is a bit disappointing again not to win after I have set pole position but I could not quite achieve the victory here. There was no way I could overtake Michael even though I was stuck on his tail. Also my left rear view mirror broke and it was bothering me as it was even hitting my helmet in some corners. I never changed my front tyres during this race because after having experienced some graining problems in the first part of the race I did not want to drive through a performance dip again. This result clearly shows how much we have improved and that we are on the right way up after a difficult start to the season."

	Dr Mario Theissen BMW Motorsports Director "It has been an exciting race from the first until the very last lap. Michael Schumacher was the one to beat here, he was strong as expected. It means a great deal to our team to be with both the drivers on the podium again, the last time this happened was at Hockenheim last year. Locking out the front row and coming second and third in the race here confirms the performance we have shown in Monaco. We have also demonstrated that we can achieve top results on a circuit which presents a very different challenge. "

	Sam Michael Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1 "It is a good result for the team, although it is a shame we could not overtake Michael. He was quick on his first stint, but had to slow down from his second stint onwards for some reason. It is obvious that the performance of our car package is definitely improving, and the whole team did a good job here. We are looking forward to the Nürburgring where we will have some more improvements."