BMW WilliamsF1 Team Reactions Friday Practice

By BMW WilliamsF1 Team
April 1 2005

Reactions ... Bahrain GP Friday Practice

On a very hot day, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team spent today’s first and second Free Practice sessions doing their homework mainly in preparation for Sunday’s race.

Mark Webber Chassis: FW27 03 (Spare car FW27 02) First session: 7th 1.33,427 min Second session: 15th 1.33,563 min "Unlike last year on Friday, the track was quite quick today and we completed our working programme. Still, we have to find more pace since we are not as strong as we think we can be. We also need to pick the right tyre, which we’ll do later on together with our Michelin engineers."

Nick Heidfeld Chassis: FW27 04 First session: 10th 1.34,722 min Second session: 11th 1.33,152 min "My morning session was compromised by a minor drive shaft boot problem. However I wasn’t happy with the balance of my car and we made some minor adjustments during the afternoon session, which improved it. The balance is still not ideal but we are going in the right direction. Also, as usual on a Friday it’s important to collect some good tyre information and I think that we achieved that."

Dr Mario Theissen BMW Motorsports Director "The temperatures in Bahrain are very close to what we experienced in Sepang with air temperatures of 38 degrees and the track reached 54 degrees. This means that this weekend cooling is of paramount importance. During today's practice sessions, both our drivers have been focusing on doing long runs in order to evaluate the two tyre compounds."

Sam Michael Chief Operations Engineer WilliamsF1 "We had a productive day today to determine cooling levels for the engine and brakes for Sunday’s race. We also completed a good tyre comparison which give us enough information to make the compound choice with Michelin. As in Malaysia, the new parts that we have brought to the car appear to be working well."