Ralf Schumacher finished in 9th place in today’s hectic Brazilian Grand Prix which was hampered by several safety car deployments and eventually was stopped prematurely for a bad accident that befell Fernando Alonso (RenaultF1). Shortly before the race was stopped the BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver was running third but pitted and unfortunately dropped to 9th position when the race was curtailed. Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya went off the track on lap 25 when holding fifth position sliding off on the very wet Curva do Sol which claimed five cars.
Ralf Schumacher: 9th
Chassis: FW25 03
Best time: 1.24,778 min (lap 46, 9th)
The most important thing for me is that Fernando Alonso wasn’t seriously injured. The timing of the red flag was really bad luck for me. If this accident hadn’t happened I assume that I would have been on the podium as many cars in front of me still had to stop for fuel. All in all my car was reasonably good under these difficult conditions, even though I must admit it was really a hard job to keep it on the track.
Juan Pablo Montoya: DNF (accident on lap 25)
Chassis: FW25 04
Best time: 1.25.814 min (lap 24, 12th)
My car was really good initially when there was a lot of water on the track and I passed several cars. Then the track started to dry and I lost a bit of pace so when I pitted I had a tyre pressure change, which didn’t improve the balance too much. After about 20 laps the track was fairly dry almost everywhere apart from turn three where there was still too much water and I lost the car. Everyone who went off there had the same problem that I had, they were sliding too much because of aquaplaning.
Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):
A disappointing day as it would have been nice to have finished better . We struggled a lot and obviously didn’t get our pit stops best timed because of the incidents that happened but this is always difficult in wet weather. Obviously McLaren are doing a good job in the championship so far. It’s up to us to work harder and close the gap to them and we are pushing to do that.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
Today’s race was more than hectic. Also I really hope that Fernando Alonso wasn’t seriously injured. The start of the race was hampered by the weather conditions, by the accidents and thereafter by the safety car’s deployment. Juan Pablo went off at the same corner where four other drivers also crashed as it was clearly particularly slippery there. Ralf drove consistently but had his pit-stop shortly before the race was stopped and therefore dropped from place three to the back of the field. We didn’t experience any technical problems with either of the cars. The new version of the BMW P83 engine that we ran in the Friday qualifying sessions in Australia and Malaysia today achieved its first race
finish.
Le Castellet Test: 8-11 April, Ralf Schumacher and Marc Gené all days |
