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| February
28 , 2001 |
| BMW.Williams
F1 team mates R. Schumacher and J.P. Montoya have laughed off reports they
don't get on. |
| Ralf
Schumacher, who has been in Formula One for four years, said
it was dangerous for people to believe everything they
read. "It's not always true what's in the newspapers," he said. |
| Ralf
Schumacher said "Our target basically is to stay where we are and to attack
the top teams once in a while, to maybe win a race,I hope to be on the
podium again, it would be great. It would be amazing." |
Team
mateJ.P Montoya said "I think for me this year
is like a
learning
year. If the car is good enough to
win races, we have a chance. If the car isn't fast enough to
win races we won't." |
Ralf
Schumacher seems confident of his brother's chances.
"Michael
seems to be pretty on top of everything. I think he's more
relaxed about things. He just goes from race to race and tries to defend
his title". |
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| February
24 , 2001 |
| Williams-BMW
driver Ralf Schumacher loves the Australian
circuit and is happy to finally be
racing again. |
|
| "I feel
good travelling to Australia because of our ever-improving form.
We are off to Melbourne with extensive data
about the FW23 from the winter testing sessions. It is, however,
difficult to give a prognosis about our position
among the other teams because they have been
testing on different tracks during the winter,
he remarked. The racetrack in the
Albert Park of Melbourne is one of
the most beautiful street circuits I know. Both from the safety
point of view and for the course itself, it is a good combination between
a street circuit and a real racetrack. Regarding
the set up, you need a lot of mechanical
grip and traction, because of all the slow corners like Jones, Clark,
Ascari and Prost. All these corners are being taken in
second or third gear. For Whiteford, Lauda
and Waite and well balanced
aerodynamics are important to achieve a good time. Some parts
of the track are bumpy, which means you have
to find a good damper and spring set-up.
Especially Friday the surface of the track is very
dirty. You have to be careful, not to spin off. The only
good overtaking point in Melbourne is at
the end of the start/finish straight." |
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| February
22 , 2001 |
| New
Spokesperson |
Ralf
Schumacher extended its team by an old acquaintance
of
the family. He appointed ex Michael Schumacher
spokesperson, Heiner Buchinger, who was replaced by Sabine Kehm in
2000 as Michael Schumacher's spokesperson. |
| Heiner
Buchinger,"I am convinced that Ralf justified the future belonged
in the formula one."
Buchinger had last been active as an
advisor of the car manufacturer Ford. |
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|
| February
20 , 2001 |
| Michelin's
first F1 race since the 1984 Portuguese GP |
Ralf
Schumacher told ITV Sport "In contrast to Bridddgestone
Michelin
have
all their production in the cntre of
Europe which will help them
react
quicker.As well as this Michelin has a very long racing
history, they
have
always achieved what they wanted. "He added "From
what I have seen so far working with them, in every test
they bring something new and it's quite a big step forward. I think
they will have no problem in buildig an
equal
tyre if not a better one." |
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| February
16 , 2001 |
| BMW-Williams
technical director Patrick Head told BBC Sport: |
"We
know clearly, Ralf Schumacher is a class act in Formula 1 .
It
would surprise me if Juan Pablo Montoya was
ahead of Ralf in his first season. There
is bound to be a fair bit of
needle and there will be one or two bumps. If there is
more than one coming together it will be
a bit of a worry." |
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| February
13 , 2001 |
| KYALAMI TEST
- DAY SIX |
| Ralf
Schumacher was quickest at Kyalami today. |
He
said "I ran the Melbourne specification
engine today because it was my last day in the car before
the Australian
Grand
Prix. I worked on tyre construction tests this morning
and
then moved onto some longer runs. Heavy
showers interrupted these runs and kept us in the garage for a while. The
remainder of the sessioninvolved gearbox testing." |
|
1. R.Schumacher
Williams 1'19"996
54 Laps
2. O.Panis
Bar 1'20"330
92 Laps
3. J.P.Montoya
Williams 1'21"010
41 Laps |
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| February
12 , 2001 |
| KYALAMI TEST
- DAY FIVE |
|
Ralf
Schumacher said "I started with tyre compound work on Saturday and
moved onto aerodynamic testing and brakes
on
Sunday. Today we worked on endurance runs
in the morning and completed a race distance on the engine. We managed
a trouble-free simulation - most of which
was focused around temperatures." |
1. R.Schumacher
Williams 1'19"517
83 Laps
3. J.P.Montoya
Williams 1'19"526
60 Laps
3. J.Villeneuve
Bar 1'21"184
109 Lap |
Ralf
Schumacher set a new lap record at Kyalami today.
Best
lap on this track : R. Schumacher - 1'19''517 (12.02.2001) |
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| February
11 , 2001 |
| KYALAMI TEST
- DAY FOUR |
In turn
Ralf Schumacher's scheduled long distance run was
borted
three quarters through after he came to a halt on the
circuit
with a cooling problem. |
|
1. J.Villeneuve
Bar 1'20"738
89 Laps
2. J.P.Montoya
Williams 1'21"014
61 Laps
3. R.Schumacher
Williams 1'21"102
53 Laps |
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| February
10 , 2001 |
| KYALAMI TEST
- DAY THREE |
| Ralf
Schumacher, set the fastest time on the third
day of testing at the Kyalami circuit,in South Africa. |
|
1. R.Schumacher
Williams 1'20"700
60 Laps
2. J.P.Montoya
Williams 1'21"200
65 Laps
3. J.Villeneuve
Bar 1'21"260
84 Laps |
| Best
lap on this track : R. Schumacher - 1'20''700 (10.02.2001) |
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| February
09 , 2001 |
| KYALAMI TEST
- DAY TWO |
| Ralf
Schumacher said "I had a very productive
morning, |
| working
on the set-up of the car. We did
a complete endurance run putting full mileage
onto the engine.We changed engines in the afternoon
and all in all had a very promising day." |
|
1. O.Panis
Bar 1'21"622
110 Laps
2. R.Schumacher
Williams 1'22"062
61 Laps
3. J.P.Montoya
Williams 1'22"494
42 Laps |
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| February
08 , 2001 |
| KYALAMI TEST
- DAY ONE |
| Ralf
said "I had a good day today, the FW23 is performing
better than the FW22 did here last year and
it's a good platform for us to develop from. We have five days
ahead of |
| us and
the weather, unlike last year, looks to be on our side." |
|
1. R.Schumacher
Williams 1'21"909
40 Laps
2. J.P.Montoya
Williams 1'22"923
47 Laps
3. O.Panis
Bar 1'23"928
33 Laps |
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| February
08 , 2001 |
|
| The
BMW WilliamsF1 Team arrived in South
Africa on |
| Wednesday
for a week-long test. |
| Ralf
Schumacher and J.Pablo Montoya will be testing |
| new
two FW23s, the 8th to the 13th of February. |
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|
| BMW.WilliamsF1 Team
February Test Programme |
|
| February
01, Barcelona |
| February
08 - 13 , Kyalami (South Africa) |
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