Australia
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Australian GP - Race
03/09/2003
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Weather: humid at the
beginning, drying out, temperatures air 17-21°C, track 17-19°C |
Melbourne (AUS). A good start to the 2003 FIA Formula
One World Championship for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. Juan Pablo Montoya led this
exciting Australian Grand Prix for many laps and just missed out on a victory
due to a spin 11 laps from the chequered flag. The Colombian finished second -
just as in 2002 - after having started third. According to the new points
system, he gets eight championship points. Team mate Ralf Schumacher was ninth
on the grid and finished eighth after some trouble with a wheel change during
his first pit stop. He gets one point. The team's strategy of starting the race
on dry tyres played a role in the positive outcome of the race.
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Juan Pablo Montoya:
2nd
Chassis: FW25 04
Best time: 1.27,942 min (lap 39, 3rd)
In spite of this good outcome I must say
this was a pretty disastrous race for me. We started on dry tyres and this
was an excellent decision but then the safety car came out twice and just
cancelled our advantage both times. Then when I finally got the lead again I
went into turn one and simply went sideways when I picked up the throttle.
It was absolutely my fault, but also the only mistake I made this weekend.
In my second pit stop I did not change tyres as they were excellent and I
was sure the car would be less competitive on new tyres. The last laps were
very difficult as I felt a lot of pressure from Kimi Raikkonen. |
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Ralf Schumacher:
8th
Chassis: FW25 03 (Spare Car FW25 02)
Best time: 1.28,617 min (lap 37, 7th)
It was an exciting race with mixed emotions
for the team. Juan's second place is obviously good for us, but at my first
pit stop a problem occurred during the tyre change. I was third when I came
in but dropped to last position when I went back on track. My race was over
there already. However, I think we shouldn't rely too much on today's
result. McLaren did a fantastic job and won the race despite starting on the
wrong tyres. I found it strange that Ferrari too started on wet tyres. It is
obviously wonderful for the team to have achieved a place on the podium in
the first race . However, something is clear, we have a lot of work ahead of
us as the new Ferrari is going to arrive shortly as well as the new McLaren.
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Sam Michael
(Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1): |
Gerhard Berger
(BMW Motorsport Director): |
| It is very good for Juan and
for the team to start the season with a second place. We are obviously
very happy. It is a pity that at Ralf's pit stop a problem with the right
rear wheel cost him about ten seconds. After all the winter testing it was
very interesting to see how strong the other cars were in the race.
Obviously Ferrari and McLaren are very competitive again. |
This was an exciting and
turbulent race from the start to the end. We went for a good strategy but
unfortunately Juan Pablo missed his chance of a victory. After his spin he
defended his second place in a fantastic way. We are happy with this
second place in the first race even if we could actually have won. |
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