Japanese GP free practice - BMW WilliamsF1 Team

JAPANESE GP - FREE PRACTICE 12 October 2001

Weather: Warm, dry but slightly overcast. Air temperature 24°C. Track 
temperature 28°C.

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team had a productive first day of practice in Suzuka. For 
Juan Pablo Montoya this was his first visit to the track, which he liked very 
much, and he ended up second-quickest after completing a total of 44 laps. 
Ralf Schumacher, who did 33 laps, suffered some setup and technical problems 
and was ninth fastest.

Juan Pablo Montoya 
Position: 2nd
Chassis: FW23 08
Best Time: 1:35.977
"The track is brilliant and you really have got to drive it. It is one of 
those tracks where you have got to push in every corner, it is very exciting. 
It is quite tricky, you have to time it right and you can slide the car 
round. I do enjoy it. The car is fine, we have to decide which tyre we are 
going to use, but both look okay as Michelin have done a good job for here."

Ralf Schumacher 
Position: 9th
Chassis: FW23 07 (T-Car: FW23 02)
Best Time: 1:36.874
"We didn't get the setup how we wanted it today. I had too much understeer 
and, due to a minor electronic problem, I could not do as many laps as I 
wanted to. We haven't made the decision which tyres to use yet, so until 
tomorrow we have some work to do."

Patrick Head (Technical Director WilliamsF1)
"A useful day of homework with both cars. We had a small technical problem on 
Ralf's car with the throttle control, but the problem was isolated and 
corrected. Otherwise the work has been mostly comparing the two tyres and 
making decisions for tomorrow, as usual."

Gerhard Berger (BMW Motorsport Director)
"Practice went very well for us. The team and both drivers found a good 
rhythm, which is important for this track. Given that Juan Pablo is driving 
here on one of the most difficult Formula 1 tracks for the first time, his 
lap times are impressive and underline his talent. Ralf seems to have 
difficulties finding his best setup. If we don't have any technical problems 
tomorrow, we should be fighting for the front two rows in qualifying."

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

Media contact:

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

BMW
Guido Stalmann
Tel: +81 90 5444 0884 (for this race weekend only)
guido.stalmann@bmw.de

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945