15/08/2004
NEWS STORY
The BMW WilliamsF1 Team collected seven valuable points at the Hungaroring today, with Juan Pablo Montoya claiming fourth position and team-mate Antonio Pizzonia finishing seventh.
Juan Pablo Montoya: This time I had a very good start! I am very pleased because I gained three places immediately and climbed up to fourth keeping that position until the end of the race. I think we made the best of the car today and we could not have asked for more. After my first pit-stop I lost quite a bit of time behind Webber and this prevented me from getting closer to Alonso later on, but I don't think we could have passed the Renault today, maybe we could have just given them a harder time! Leaving the Hungaroring with seven more points in the team's tally is good. We have more work ahead but it's clear that we are moving in the right direction.
Antonio Pizzonia: I had a poor start, it was also the dirty side of the track. The handling of my car was pretty difficult especially in the beginning but we made some changes in the pit-stops and the situation improved. For most of the race I was behind Sato, trying to get close enough to pass him, but I never had the right opportunity to do so. We nearly got him at the last pit- stop but I had traffic in the pit lane. All in all I scored two more points today and this is what matters.
Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): It was a good race for the team. We have made a step forward, but it is obviously a long way to go to where Ferrari is with their two cars dominating. Juan made a good start and recent improvements made in this area are starting to pay off. Juan had a good race. Antonio had a poor start but raced well. He suffered from a little bad luck during his last stop due to some traffic in the pit lane causing us to hold him back after his stop was completed. Generally things have improved with the aerodynamical and mechanical changes we made to the car.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Congratulations to Michael Schumacher for his 12th victory this season and to Ferrari for winning the Constructors' championship before time. Our new aero package has proved positive and has worked very well already. We have collected seven points and this is encouraging because our car has still not done any testing. Antonio had a poor start but had a flawless race after that. His ‘off track' excursion cost him one second but didn't affect the final result. In his last pit-stop we could have let Antonio pass Sato but the plan failed because of a Jordan, driving past our garage at the wrong moment. Juan had a very good start and drove a perfect race. Both engines had no problems.