WilliamsF1 Team Comments Saturday Qualifying

By Andrew Hooper
June 28 2003

	European GP Saturday - Team Comments
	For the third race in a row the BMW WilliamsF1 Team had a positive final qualifying session. Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya will both start tomorrow’s European Grand Prix next to each other, but this time from the second row, having qualified in third and fourth positions respectively.
	Juan Pablo Montoya "I am obviously a bit disappointed as I was expecting something more from today’s qualifying. The balance of my car wasn’t quite as good as it was this morning and this cost me a place in the top three. However, I believe we’re set to have a good race tomorrow. The car has been working very well in the last few races and I am confident we have a good strategy."
	Ralf Schumacher "We can be fairly happy about today’s result. In the first and second sectors of my flying lap I was really quick but then I lost some advantage in the last part. However, 3rd and 4th are good positions to start from for tomorrow’s race – especially for me, as I will start from the cleaner side of the track. We were expecting more difficulties here at the Nürburgring but today’s result proves that we are working in the right direction with the FW25, especially because Kimi, Michael and myself are so close together. We have made the right choice of tyre for the race and I also believe Michelin have an advantage on this track. It’s going to be a long, hot and interesting race tomorrow."
	Dr Mario Theissen BMW Motorsports Director "We have seen a very tight performance in today’s qualifying as the lap times of the top three are within a tenth of a second. For the third time in a row Ralf and Juan Pablo have demonstrated an excellent qualifying performance which gives them every chance for a good race result tomorrow."
	Sam Michael Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1 "Second row on the grid is definitely a good place to start the race from and we are quite confident that we will compete well. The cars are well set up and we have a good strategy for tomorrow’s race."