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Notables and
Quotables
Some
highlights from the BMW launch:
"Last year the BMW WilliamsF1 Team underplayed its pre-season performance predictions in an effort to manage external expectations. Internally, however, our targets and ambitions were significantly higher, but even
we were surprised by our third place in the constructors championship in our first year partnership with
BMW."
Frank Williams, Team Principal,
WilliamsF1
"It is highly unlikely that we will be able to completely close the gap with the established front-runners in our second
season. But we want to improve our performance so as to be ready and waiting to pounce as soon as one of those four cars runs into problems. In Michelin
we have a new tire partner returning to Formula One after a long absence, and we've got to allow for their learning curve. Yet at the same time we mustn't lose sight of the cars behind us - the gap between them and us in 2000 was noticeably smaller than that between ourselves and the leaders."
BMW Motorsport Director Gerhard
Berger
"The 2000 season proved better than many expected, bringing a third place team position, but the very large gap in points between ourselves and the two leading teams, McLaren and Ferrari, emphasises how much progress is required for 2001 in order to achieve our targets of becoming truly competitive. The FW23 will build on the progress made over the last two years and have a visual similarity to the successful FW22 2000 car. The
new smaller and lighter P80 engine from BMW will assist with the chassis dynamics as well as providing greater power. The aerodynamics of the car have been optimised around the new regulations, and we hope that this car and engine will, with a bit of luck, permit our drivers to challenge for race wins in 2001."
Patrick Head, Technical Director of WilliamsF1
"In the first season we had a healthy technical platform. We worked on it, and on ourselves, unremittingly. Beyond that we have developed
an all-new BMW V10-engine for the 2001 season. Our aim is to improve further in the reliability, performance and drivability disciplines."
Dr Mario
Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director
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