USGP qualifying - BMW WilliamsF1 Team

UNITED STATES GP - QUALIFYING September 29, 2001

Weather: Dry and sunny. Air temperature 18°C. Track temperature 25°C.

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team's drivers will start the United States Grand Prix 
from the second row of the grid with Ralf Schumacher third and Juan Pablo 
Montoya fourth. After the recent pole positions the team naturally felt a 
little disappointed, but the time differences at the top are very close.

Ralf Schumacher 
Position: 3rd
Chassis: FW23 07
Best Time: 1:11.986
"On my last lap I was braking too late into turn four so that is the reason I 
didn't improve my time. We should be satisfied with our positions as this is 
where we expected to be. We have struggled all weekend to find the right 
balance and I still believe it is going to be difficult tomorrow, but last 
year we improved from day to day and it would help us if it was a bit warmer. 
It would be nice to have a place on the podium."

Juan Pablo Montoya 
Position: 4th
Chassis: FW23 08 (T-Car: FW23 02)
Best Time: 1:12.252
"It was a really difficult day as we couldn't really get our hands on the 
handling of the car. I think it was a pretty average qualifying for me. I had 
traffic in my third run, which was my quickest, and on my last I made a 
mistake."

Patrick Head (Technical Director WilliamsF1)
"I think we can say they are reasonably solid grid positions for the team 
rather than anything startling. We have had a few problems getting the car 
well-balanced, but in all the changes we have made we have understood quite a 
lot about what we have got to do for tomorrow. Obviously we will be working 
to try and make sure we have a consistent and reliable race."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director)
"Having both cars on the second row is a positive result, especially as the 
time differences at the front are very tight. Ralf nearly made it to the 
front row as he is just four-hundredths behind second place. We had no 
technical problems and during the final minutes the track seemed to be a bit 
slower."

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