03/07/2004
NEWS STORY
The BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers will start tomorrow's French Grand Prix from third and fourth row. Juan Pablo Montoya came sixth and Marc Gené, who is replacing Ralf Schumacher, qualified in eighth position.
Juan Pablo Montoya: It's a shame that I couldn't again set the fastest time in qualifying, after such a good pre-qualifying lap. We solved the problems I had in this morning's free practice, changing the car quite a bit, and we went out for qualifying with the right set-up. In qualifying I was quickest in the first two sectors, but then I made a mistake because I was pushing too hard and lost the rear of my car in the second high-speed chicane and I could only set the sixth time. The positive thing is that we showed today that the pace is there and this means we should have a strong race car. Anyway, we'll see tomorrow how we are going to perform compared with everybody else.
Marc Gené: Having managed to do a good job at the right moment was the most important thing. In my pre-qualifying lap I found it difficult to get suddenly used to a different fuel load and I made a mistake, but my qualifying lap was ok, even if I know I could have been a couple of tenths quicker, maybe. Anyway, that was my best lap so far this weekend! If on Wednesday somebody had told me that I would have set this time, I would have signed-up for it, without doubt! Starting from the fourth row is still a good position and I my aim for the race tomorrow is to collect as many points as possible for the team.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a disappointing qualifying session for our team as both cars had a big moment in the last sector. But our long run performance is quite strong. So we are looking forward to a strong race performance tomorrow. We didn't have any mechanical problems ant the new parts are working well.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): We cannot be satisfied because today pole position was possible. In the first qualifying session everything went perfectly for Juan Pablo, but on their second laps both the drivers lost some time in the last sector. Juan Pablo and Marc are separated by just one tenth of a second. It was a good performance by Marc too. Anyway, the lap times are quite close here with the top eleven drivers within only one second. With regards to the engines, neither of the BMW P84 experienced any problems so far.