FORMULA ONE: BMW Williams F1 Team Malaysian GP race report

Malaysian Grand Prix - RACE Sepang, 18th March 2001

Weather: Hot and humid with heavy showers. Average air temperature 28°C. Average track temperature 26°C. Humidity 57%.

First points of the season for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team with 5th place and an excellent drive from Ralf Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya had to retire very early, when he spun off on the very wet track.

Ralf Schumacher Position: 5th Chassis: FW23 03 Best Time: 1:41.503 on lap 54 (2nd) "The collision with Barrichello at the first corner is hard to understand, because usually the car that is in the front has the priority on the corner. From mid-race I picked up some understeer which became bigger and bigger after the third pit stop. My opinion is that it didn't depend on the tyre but more on the set-up of the car. But it was a good feeling anyway being able to keep Hakkinen behind me."

Juan Pablo Montoya Position: DNF (spun on lap 4) Chassis: FW23 01 Best Time: 1:43.926 on lap 2 (12th) "I am a bit disappointed with my result because the car was good and considering that I didn't have any running on Friday I was starting from a very good position. But on the grid the engine died and when I tried to start it again it didn't work. I had to jump into the T-car and start from the pit lane. When it began to rain hard I radioed the pit wall that I needed to switch to wet tyres. We decided to stay out one more lap but I couldn't make it to the pit because there was so much aquaplaning. I let the throttle go but again there was so little traction in the rear that the engine stopped and I spun."

Patrick Head (WilliamsF1 Technical Director) "In a way we could be fairly disappointed about the result but it's very good to get one car to the finish. It's the first one for the P80 engine this year and the FW23 and with Juan's car not starting on the grid and Ralf having his bump with Rubens in the first corner we should be satisfied. In effect Ralf was the last car on the track coming out of the first corner so to finish fifth after that is not too bad, I suppose. In the middle of the race the car was handling very well but on the last set of tyres we had quite a lot of understeer, which made the car slower than it would have been. Anyway, we are going back with a finish and some points."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director) "Today we have proved that our engine can stand a Grand Prix distance. We knew we had the potential but we couldn't show the reliability in Melbourne. The race was everything but lucky for us. After he was tapped into a spin at the first corner, Ralf lost his second place and was last. Then he also had a lengthy pit-stop. The two points and the duel with Hakkinen in the end are a true pleasure. It was good to be able to battle so closely with a McLaren. We know anyway that we still have a lot of work ahead of us. As yet we still don't know the reason why Juan Pablo's engine didn't start."

TEST: The team will be testing in Barcelona from Tuesday 20th to Friday 23rd March. Marc Gené will be on duty for the first day (20th), Juan Pablo Montoya on the 21st only and Ralf Schumacher will test on the last two days (22nd+23rd).