BMW WilliamsF1 Team-US GP-First Qualifying

United States Grand Prix  -  FIRST QUALIFYING          26th September 2003

Weather: Overcast , dry track for both drivers before rain intervened.
Temp: 16°C  Air,  19-20°C Track

Indianapolis (USA). An untroubled start to the US GP weekend for the BMW
WilliamsF1 Team, with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya achieving the
4th and the 5th best times respectively in the First Qualifying Session,
which was run under changeable weather and track conditions.

Ralf Schumacher:    4th
Chassis: FW25 07  (Spare car FW25 02)
Best time: 1.10,222 min
"I am reasonably happy with what we have achieved today and I feel
reasonably well too. My lap wasnıt very good, I braked too late into turn
one due to some understeer. Itıs a shame we couldnıt find the optimum
balance this morning, but we had very little running in dry conditions.
However, itıs still very encouraging for tomorrow. I believe we have the
strongest package, no doubt about it and itıs going to be a very tough race
for Ferrari if they want to win."

Juan Pablo Montoya:    5th
Chassis: FW25 06 (Spare car FW25 04)
Best time: 1.10.372 min
"It was a bit of a gamble to know if the set-up of the car was ok for
qualifying, since this morning I didnıt get much running in the dry. I lost
a bit of time in a couple of corners because I braked too early.  However, I
hope it will be dry tomorrow and on Sunday notwithstanding the fact that
Michelin has brought here some very competitive wet tyres. I am very pleased
with my car, I think weıve got a very good package for this weekend, I
wasnıt the quickest today but I am in front of my main rivals and this is
the most important thing."

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):
"The circuit appeared to get faster for the first ten cars before the rain
came, which makes it a bit difficult to assess the lap times. However, we
have had a good first day and have now some work to do on the race set-up.
We are confident about taking the challenge to the front in tomorrow's
qualifying session."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"Todayıs qualifying was strongly affected by changing weather conditions.
The second half of the field had to run on a wet track . Both of our drivers
ran in fairly good conditions which will allow them to start  tomorrowıs
final qualifying in the top five. If the weather remains consistent these
should be good start positions for the qualifying. BMW has done a further
step on the engine side for Indy and Suzuka and both cars had a trouble-free
day."