Breathtaking duels, particularly between Montoya and Barrichello in the battle for second place, and typical English weather turned the British Grand Prix into an action-packed race.

Despite difficult track conditions, Montoya and Ralf Schumacher both drove a faultless race. Montoya, starting from pole, had to defer to the two Ferraris and their superior wet-weather tyres, but left the rest of the field trailing to take a commanding third place. Ralf Schumacher was heading for a fourth-placed finish when a faulty fuel rig during a pit stop knocked him back into eighth place.

At Magny-Cours, Montoya claimed his sixth pole of the season, but in the race itself he fought a losing battle, as did Ralf Schumacher who had started from fifth position.

As the FW24 cars soon wore out the softer of Michelin's two tire compounds in summery temperatures, the team resorted to the harder compound. Montoya and Ralf Schumacher had serious problems with their cars' balance in the race and had to concede defeat not only to Michael Schumacher but to both McLaren-Mercedes cars as well.

Montoya took fourth place at Magny-Cours while his teammate Ralf was fifth to cross the finishing line, where he was able to congratulate his brother Michael on his fifth World Championship title.

Following the eleventh of 17 rounds, Montoya was in second place in the Drivers' Championship with 34 points. Ralf and Barrichello were tied for third with 32.

At Hockenheim both drivers were on the podium, with Montoya in second place and Ralf Schumacher third, helping the BMW WilliamsF1 Team make up lost ground in the battle for second place in the Manufacturers' Championship.

For the first time in Formula One history two Germans, and two brothers to boot, had lined up on the front row of the grid - Michael in front of Ralf Schumacher. Behind them Barrichello and Montoya launched into the race on the new Hockenheim ring, no longer the BMW engine's favorite circuit after forfeiting its long forest straights.

With asphalt temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius, the team was well served by the harder Michelin tires. While the Schumachers attacked the first turn ahead of Barrichello, Montoya lost fourth place to Raikkonen. But thanks to a temporary boost in his engine speed, the BMW engineers enabled Montoya to launch a successful counterattack. The sequence was once again Michael ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello and Montoya. But then Barrichello lost time in the pits and Ralf Schumacher had to go in for an extra stop shortly before the end of the race because the pneumatic valve drive of the V10 had to top up on air. As a result, Montoya was handed second place.

Ralf Schumacher kept a cool head in the blistering heat of the race on the Hungaroring.

Ralf managed to defend his third starting position throughout the race behind the two Ferraris, earning the BMW WilliamsF1 Team its twelfth podium finish of the season.

Montoya wasn't so lucky. Taking off from the dirty side of the grid, he fell back several positions from fourth place. Later in the race his car touched Jenson Button's Renault, while a set-to with Raikkonen culminated in Montoya driving into the grass. The handling of his FW24 was strongly compromised as a result. The determined Colombian was in 18th position when he was lapped by the leading Ferraris on lap 25. By the end of the race he had managed to fight his way back to eleventh place.

Juan Pablo Montoya loves Spa, so he was disappointed at his fifth place on the starting grid.

Like Ralf Schumacher, Montoya had problems with the set-up of his FW24, though the German managed to take fourth place on the grid.

In the race Montoya moved up into third at the start and he bravely defended this position against David Coulthard all the way to the finish, helped by his rev limit being raised via telemetry. The BMW engine took the increased load in its stride as competitors blew their engines one after the other. Ralf Schumacher fell back to fifth place at the start and, after spinning, was intermittently in seventh. But he benefited from the retirements to cross the finish line in fifth place.

During qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, BMW set several new records. It was the first time the BMW engine had reached a speed of over 19,000 revolutions a minute, while Montoya logged an average speed of 259.827 km/h to claim the fastest qualifying lap in the history of Formula One.

The previous world record had been held for 17 years. But at the end of the race the team came away empty-handed. Both Ralf Schumacher and Montoya had to retire from the Monza circuit with technical faults, each from third position. The German's FW24 sustained an engine failure on lap five of 53, while Montoya was forced to park his car after 33 laps with a damaged suspension.

Although the US Grand Prix fell far short of expectations for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, the bottom line was a very positive result.

After the 16th of 17 rounds, the team was now in an unassailable runner-up position in the World Championship - a great achievement in the third year of the partnership.

Ralf Schumacher and Montoya had collided at the start of the race. The German, in fifth place on the grid, got off to a better start than Montoya from position four, but as the Colombian attempted to reverse the order again, the two FW24 cars touched. Montoya was able to continue and managed to finish fourth despite an inadvertently premature pit stop. Following this incident, Schumacher had to return to the pits to have his rear wing replaced, ultimately finishing in 16th place.

For the BMW WilliamsF1 Team the Japanese Grand Prix was tantamount to having one's work brief spelt out for the winter months.

On the challenging Suzuka circuit, Schumacher and Montoya were on grid positions five and six -the worst qualifying results of the 2002 season.

In the race it was the two Ferraris who swept to victory again, with the third podium place going to McLaren-Mercedes after an engine failure forced Ralf Schumacher out of the race from third place with four laps to go. Montoya finished fourth.