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FORMULA ONE: BMW Williams F1 European GP free practice

19 May 2000

European Grand Prix - FREE PRACTICE
19th April 2000

Weather:  Overcast. 10°C average

Quite a good start to the weekend for both the BMW WilliamsF1 Team
drivers  Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher who were 1st and 5th
quickest respectively in the first free practice sessions for the
European Grand Prix, even if Ralf was prevented from finishing the
session by an engine failure.

Jenson Button
Chassis:
         FW22 04
Best Time:
         1:19.808
    Best Position:
         1st 
"I don't want to get too excited as it's not qualifying. A lot is going to
change even if I must admit that it would be nice to be among those at
the very top tomorrow at this time. The car set up feels very well
balanced and we just need to do some slight changes for tomorrow.
Even from when we first arrived here the car felt good. When I went
out and set the quickest time, I thought we were going to be quite
close to the front but it came as quite a surprise to be at the very top!"

Ralf Schumacher
Chassis:
         FW22 05
T-Car Chassis:
    FW22 03
Best Time:
         1:20.548 
    Best Position:
         5th 
"I am obviously disappointed about being forced to retire before the
end of the session but as it looked, we had a problem with the engine.
Generally the car feels good, although I could not complete so many
laps. But I am optimistic to work out a good set up for tomorrow's
qualifying and I am confident that we could perform well both in wet
and dry conditions."

Patrick Head (Technical Director, WilliamsF1)
"Jenson has had a very useful day and has done a lot of homework on
tyre and brake wear and at the end he had a run on new tyres. He is
fairly happy with his car. It's a pity for Ralf, who had too few laps in the
second session to get to his optimum time."

Dr Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)
"We are satisfied with our lap times today. It's nice to see for the first
time one of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers leading the pack, even
if free practice has only a limited importance. No one knows what the
other teams were running in terms of tyres and fuel. Furthermore,
today's best times were achieved in varying weather conditions.
Jenson became familiar with the Nurburgring very quickly, which is
very impressive as it's a track completely unknown to him. At the end
of the second session Ralf's car suffered an engine failure and we are
investigating the cause."

BMW Motorsport Press:  Guido.Stalmann@bmw.de