24/10/2004
NEWS STORY
In the final race of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship the BMW WilliamsF1 Team celebrated its first victory of the season: Juan Pablo Montoya became the winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix by a margin of 1.0 second. It is the fourth F1 win for the Colombian and the tenth win since the beginning of the BMW and WilliamsF1 partnership in 2000. The last race won by the team was also thanks to Montoya, in Hockenheim, on 3rd August 2003. Ralf Schumacher, who drove his last race for the team as did Montoya, came fifth. Montoya finished his season fifth in the Drivers' Championship, Schumacher ended up in 9th place having missed six races through injury. The BMW WilliamsF1 Team consolidated their fourth position in the Constructors' Championship.
Juan Pablo Montoya: It is just unbelievable! The very first laps were difficult because I lost some positions at the start before the tyres got up to temperature, but then I seemed to have more grip than the others. Still, the race was decided by a good strategy put together by all of my engineers and by Sam Michael, who called me in to change tyres from intermediate to slick at the right time. Later in the race they made another good call when I had Kimi behind me. They managed to get me out on the track ahead of him by just over a second. I could see him behind and I was thinking I could not afford to make even the smallest mistake! It's fantastic to give such a good end to these four years at Williams BMW. I want to say thanks to Frank and to everyone in the team who made this possible! And if you ask me what was the hardest thing in the race I'd say it was the pain in the neck, since this is an anti-clockwise circuit and we are not very used to all those left turns!
Ralf Schumacher: What a shame, due to the rain my strategy did not pay off at all. But I have to say that I was not fast enough to overtake Alonso and as a consequence I I think I missed out on a podium today. It was great to be with this team for the last six years and it's a true pity we didn't enjoy even more success. I wish the Team all the best for next year!
Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): What a fantastic way to finish the season, with a superb drive from Juan Pablo! He didn't put a foot wrong, the pit crew and the engineers got everything right as well. With tricky conditions at the start of the race fuel loads were critical. Ralf also did a good job. Unfortunately he lost some time in the pits, but regardless he didn't give up and overtook a couple of cars during the race. Michelin's intermediate tyre performed well at the start of the race. It's been a hard season for us and this is a great reward for all the people who worked hard in the Grove and Munich factories and at the circuit to turn the FW26 around. Finally, all the best to Juan Pablo and Ralf for the future.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): This was a great relief for the team after a long and tough season. I am proud of our team's recovery from a difficult situation and we have now come back to former strengths. My compliments to both the drivers who gave everything at their last race for the team. Juan's race was just perfect. This progress is of great importance for our technicians as it is exactly the right motivation for the development of the new car and engine. The tenth victory feels as good as the first one. We are back.