04/09/2005
NEWS STORY
Thanks to a strong drive and a good strategy, Antonio Pizzonia scored two points for the BMW WillaimsF1 Team, by finishing seventh, having started 16th on the grid. Pizzonia stood in for Nick Heidfeld, who withdrew yesterday after a crash in testing. Team mate Mark Webber was unfortunately caught in an accident at the first corner, which forced him to pit for a new nose and front wing which compromised his race.
Antonio Pizzonia: I am very pleased with this result on one side but I am also slightly disappointed on the other because I think that I could have done even better if I had been at my top form, as I haven't tested recently and I am out of practice. Considering the whole situation, we scored two valuable points and my car was strong today.
Mark Webber: I had a really good start and when I was going through turn one I was telling myself ”Take it easy, take it easy!” but then I think someone moved on David Coulthard and he slowed rapidly in front of me and I damaged my front wing. I had to come into the pits to change it and after that it was basically all about recovering from nowhere. It's a shame for the team, as everyone did a fantastic job this weekend and we deserved to have both cars in the points today.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a good drive from Antonio, a fantastic result considering he did not drive the car for some time until yesterday morning. It is a shame that Mark damaged his front wing in the first corner. It became clear as the race unfolded that we have improved the car's pace compared to other teams around us. The gap to McLaren is still our biggest focus. Unfortunately due to the qualifying order we did not maximise the potential of our cars today.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Antonio did a very good job. Just one year ago he had to stand in for Ralf Schumacher here at Monza and since then he has not raced at all. Today he managed to recover from grid position 16th to finish 7th without any mistakes. Unfortunately Mark had a coming together at the first chicane after the start and had to change his front wing. From then on, until his first pit stop he got stuck in traffic and had practically no chance to improve his position. We had no mechanical problems today.