Italian GP qualifying - BMW WilliamsF1 Team

Italian GP - QUALIFYING September 15, 2001

Weather: Dry and sunny. Air temperature 20°C. Track temperature 27°C.

Juan Pablo Montoya has claimed his third pole for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, 
while his team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, will start from fourth on the grid for 
the Italian Grand Prix.

Juan Pablo Montoya 
Position: 1st
Chassis: FW23 08 (T-Car: FW23 02)
Best Time: 1:22.216
"The car was really good. We worked a lot this morning trying to make it 
better and better. We knew in the morning we were not going to be that good 
if it was cold, but the temperature came up and we became stronger and 
stronger. I think there is a bit more time there so I am very pleased with 
that. I believe tomorrow is going to be hard as the Ferraris have been 
consistently quick all the weekend, so it should be interesting. I shall try 
to have a clean start and go from there."

Ralf Schumacher 
Position: 4th
Chassis: FW23 07
Best Time: 1:22.841
"Unfortunately for me qualifying was less successful than expected, as we 
just didn't find the right set-up. My car alternated between oversteer and 
understeer. It also did not really help that on one of my runs I had to slow 
down because of yellow flags. Now the Schumacher family starts from the 
second row, and this will be exciting for sure."

Patrick Head (Technical Director WilliamsF1)
"A strong performance from the team, and particularly from Juan Pablo with 
his second-consecutive pole position. The slightly warmer temperatures in the 
afternoon also helped the Michelin tyres give an even better performance - 
they look good, strong and stable. It is obvious the circuit with its long 
straights suits the power of the BMW engine quite well. We now need to get a 
good result out of these grid positions."

Dr. Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)
"The fight with the two Ferraris was really exciting today. At the end it was 
Juan who had his nose in front. Being here on pole gives us a lot of 
satisfaction because engine power plays such an important role here. We had 
no problems with either engine, and they were as strong as they should have 
been."

Current high-resolution photographs may be downloaded from the BMW Press Club 
at www.press.bmwgroup.com (registration at any time).

Media contact:

WilliamsF1
Ann Bradshaw
ann.bradshaw@williamsf1.com
Tel: +44 79 772 75 838

BMW
Guido Stalmann
Tel: +49(0) 170 5666 112
guido.stalmann@bmw.de

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945