02/07/2006
NEWS STORY
After a good qualifying performance the BMW Sauber F1 Team left the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday empty handed. Nick Heidfeld had moved up to seventh after the start when he was involved in a first corner accident. His car rolled several times, but the German escaped unhurt. Jacques Villeneuve was also seventh when he retired on lap 24 with an engine failure.
Jacques Villeneuve: The car was feeling good and we had quite a lot of grip. We were running strong and were quite a bit faster than the three cars ahead of us, so I was just waiting for the pit stops to see what happened. The engine just gave up, sad because it was the first race on this engine so something must have gone wrong. It was very disappointing as we could have been in the points today.
Nick Heidfeld: I escaped unhurt from the accident. I don't know exactly what happened. It looks as if there was another accident before this. I had a very good start, and had already made up three positions so was almost next to Jacques. Then all of a sudden I was airborne. It is such a shame as we have been really strong here.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): A strong qualifying was followed by a disappointing race. It looks as if Indianapolis for BMW is always associated with some special drama. At the first corner Nick was already involved in an accident. The crash wasn't his fault and ended with the car rolling over several times. Luckily he wasn't hurt. On Jacques' car we had a sudden engine failure. We will only be able to analyse in Munich what caused this failure. In Magny-Cours we have to try and regain some lost ground.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director Chassis): Obviously it is a great pity that both cars retired here. Nick had a very good start, but unfortunately his race was over in the first corner. Also Jacques was well placed when he retired. Our strategy would have worked out.
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