10/10/2004
NEWS STORY
The BMW WilliamsF1 Team today achieved their third podium finish of the season with Ralf Schumacher finishing second after driving a text book style race. Team- mate Juan Pablo Montoya managed to turn grid position 13 into two championship points. Previous podium finishes for the team in 2004 were when Montoya came second in Kuala Lumpur and third in Imola.
Ralf Schumacher: The start went ok and I was surprised I was able to follow Michael. I pitted four laps earlier than he did, so he was obviously heavier. But after the pit stop I got stuck in traffic and when you are fighting at the back it is always difficult. Our car was good today. We chose the right strategy and the result speaks for itself. We had a good overall weekend considering the good starting position I achieved. We also widened the gap to McLaren which is important. Now I am happy to go back home and celebrate with my family.
Juan Pablo Montoya: My starting position compromised my race today. I got stuck in traffic and I was losing between one and two seconds every lap. The best I could do in that situation was collect some points, and that is what I managed to do. I can only hope my poor position today will maybe give me an advantage so as to get into a good qualifying position at the next race, as Ralf had here.
Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): Today we achieved a good result with regards to the FW26 performance and constructors' points. Ralf drove a fantastic race, typical text book style. The fast work of the pit crew at the stops was fundamental to get Ralf's result, to help him avoid traffic. Juan did a good job to come from where he qualified helped by some aggressive overtaking. Both cars were well balanced for the race, which is interesting after the little time we had to look after the set-up. We had no mechanical problems.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Considering the difficult circumstances of this year's Japanese Grand Prix, it has been a very successful weekend for our team. Ralf demonstrated excellent performance in the qualifying and in the race. After he had quite a hard time he achieved a podium again. This means fresh motivation for the entire team after a difficult season. Today's positive result was completed by the fact that Juan Pablo managed to grasp two points after having started 13th. Furthermore regarding the engines everything ran according to plan.