FW: BMW WilliamsF1 Team - Austrian GP - Practice

Weather:  dry and sunny, 21ƒC Air, 26ƒC Track

The BMW WilliamsF1 team drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya had
a trouble free and productive first day of practice at the A1-Ring in
Spielberg (Austria). Juan Pablo was 3rd and Ralf was 12th.

Juan Pablo Montoya:           3rd
Chassis: FW24 05
Best time: 1.10,613
"We did quite a good job today and the car definitely improved throughout
the two sessions. We have been working on the set-up of the car and tyre
evaluation. I think this is going to be a tough weekend but we hope to be
closer to Ferrari here."

Ralf Schumacher:               12th
Chassis: FW24 04 (T-Car FW24 02)
Best time: 1.11,652
"Today's first session was not too bad. We tried a few balance variations
and we obviously compared the two different tyre compounds, even though we
are not sure yet about which we are going to use. There are still some
small problems with the set-up of the car to be sorted out. If we manage to
do that, tomorrow we should be in a position to fight for the first two
rows on the grid."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):
"We have had a normal Friday practice, doing some homework for the race and
evaluating the two different tyres from Michelin. In terms of reliability
it was a trouble free day. But in terms of balance we have some work to do
to get ready for qualifying. On Ralf's comparison run he had a software
problem and lost the car on the exit of turn two, which hurt his best lap
time."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"Both the drivers have thoroughly completed their set-up programme,
achieving 45 and 46 laps. The A1 circuit is a very demanding circuit on the
engine with many sections of the track at full throttle and uphill
straights. If the weather is going to be on our side we could be in good
shape for qualifying and for the race."