Monaco
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Monaco GP - Race
06/01/2003
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Weather: dry, air 23-24°C,
track 23-24°C |
Monte Carlo (MCO). Juan Pablo Montoya achieved the first
victory of the 2003 season for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team at the Monaco Grand Prix.
It is the sixth since the beginning of the team's partnership which began in
2000, the last victory for the team was at the 2002 Malaysian GP. WilliamsF1's
last Monaco victory dates back to 1983 with Keke Rosberg. Montoya celebrated the
second win of his F1 career after Monza 2001.
Ralf Schumacher finished the race in fourth position.
With today's result, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team closed the gap to rivals McLaren
and Ferrari in the Constructors' World Championship. Montoya and Schumacher are
now equal fifth in the drivers' ranking.
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Ralf Schumacher:
4th Chassis: FW25 05
Best time: Best time: 1:14.768 min (lap 77, 3rd)
Obviously it is disappointing to finish
fourth when you start on pole especially on a track like Monaco when being
on pole means more than anywhere else. The balance of my car was for some
reason not ideal after the first pit stop and I could not keep up with the
pace of the leaders. Congratulations to Juan Pablo and the whole team for
the great result. |
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Juan Pablo Montoya:
1st
Chassis: FW25 06
Best time: 1:14.902 min (lap 47, 4th)
Today was the ideal day. The car worked
well, the tyres worked well and the team did a fantastic job. We really
needed this. It's fantastic, it's unreal, there were a few races where I was
close to a win and then I just didn't make it, like in Australia, for
example. The key today has been the start, where I was able to jump in front
of Kimi and then I set about widening the gap from him before my pit-stops.
After that it was just a matter of pacing myself. I was not under too much
pressure in the last laps when Kimi was close behind but I had to be alert.
The tyres in particular worked very well and were consistent. Winning in
Monaco is very special, there is no other race like this in Formula One. It
is a bit like winning the Indy 500 in the USA. This is the first time I have
finished the race here since I started racing in F1 and I have won it!
More on Juan's victory... |
Sam Michael
(Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1): |
Mario Theissen
(BMW Motorsport Director): |
| It was a fantastic result
for the whole team. Juan did a great job in winning on such a difficult
track. The key to success in this race is downforce and mechanical grip. I
think today we showed how good the car really is and the tyres worked well
too. Ralf started well, had a slow middle stint and made a mistake in the
Rascasse in the last stint but it didn't effect his final finishing
position. However, tonight we will be celebrating with the whole team and
the guys from Michelin. |
This is such a
great result, it feels just so good! This success, including yesterday?s
pole position, means further motivation for our team. We have felt for a
while that we are improving, but did not manage to turn it into results.
Juan drove a race without any errors and he kept those behind him under
control. Ralf had a little bit of bad luck after both his pit stops when
each time a car passed him by fractions of a second. |
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