|
|
|
|
| May 31,
2001 |
| Ralf is close to a new deal with the BMW.WilliamsF1
team, |
| . |
Manager Willi Weber told RTL television
,
He said "At the moment
we are negotiating with team boss Frank Williams about what happens after
2002,"
"We are on
the brink of an agreement. We are well on the way to doing
something similar with Ralf as we did with Michael and concluding a long
term agreement,"
"I believe that
continuity is incredibly important if you want to be successful - be
it a team or a driver. The times when drivers used to
change teams every two or three years and start from the ground
up, are over,"
"I am certain that BMW-Williams
will be a position next year to win several races and
I think they will be a contender for the title. It is just
a question of whether they can win the title in 2002 or 2003." |
|
|
|
|
|
| May 30,
2001 |
| MAGNY COURS Day
Two |
| . |
Ralf on Top Again at Magny Cours
Ralf Schumacher
said "I am very happy with both
days of testing as we found a very
good set - up for the car for the French Grand Prix."
He added "We were quickest on both days and have found the
right compound of tyres for here after
testing seven different ones. All in
all a very positive test. Unluckily I
have had to stop earlier than planned due to a sore throat,
but Marc (Gene) will now take over tomorrow's duties."
At the end
of the test session, Ralf flew back to Monte Carlo, where
he will rest to recover from his flu in time for Montreal. |
| . |
Sam Michael (Williams'
Chief Operations Engineer) said "Ralf
only did ten laps in the morning
and then we took an early lunch to complete
the scheduled engine change. In the afternoon we concentrated
on tyre testing. Tomorrow Marc (Gene) will begin in the
morning doing race simulation and at the same time doing endurance
testing on the tyre compounds we have found from today.
He will also be doing suspension development
work. We are very happy with the tyre consistency
shown here by Michelin," |
| . |
| 1. R.Schumacher
Williams-BMW (M)
1:15.256 ( 63 laps ) |
|
|
|
| May 29,
2001 |
| MAGNY COURS Day
One |
| . |
Ralf on top at Magny Cours
Ralf Schumacher
was fastest in the opening day of testing at Magny
Cours today.
Ralf said "We
had a positive day's testing working mainly on
set - up, I think our car suits the Magny Cours track, as we have
such a good package with the chassis, engine and tyres. I
hope tomorrow we will have another useful
day of testing." |
| . |
| 1. R.Schumacher
Williams-BMW (M)
1:15.105 ( 57 laps ) |
|
|
|
| May 28,
2001 |
| Next Test - MAGNY
COURS, MONZA |
| . |
| Magny Cours, France
- 29 / 30 / 31 May - Ralf Schumacher |
| Monza, Italy
30 / 31 May / 1 June -
Juan Pablo Montoya |
|
|
|
|
| May 27,
2001 |
| Monaco Grand Prix - RACE |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher suffered an
electrical problem on his FW23.
Ralf said "I was
just starting to think that it was getting close to fuel
stop time when the hydraulics warning
light suddenly came on. Shortly after that
the steering became very heavy as the power - assistance
failed, then I couldn't select a gear. I
got to the pits but as soon as
I stopped the engine cut out." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
DNF |
|
|
|
|
| May 26,
2001 |
| Ralf said "Monte Carlo is dangerous and
out of date' |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher said
"At first I didn't realise I had an injury," "I jumped immediately
out of the car and was inspecting the damage to
it when I suddenly realised my leg was bleeding quite badly."
"For the drivers, this is
a challenging circuit, but for me, however, it is just dangerous and out
of date," he said. "I don't think we should drive here anymore, but that
is not up to me to decide. I don't even get a buzz out of driving here.
I only drive here
because I have to. It is enjoyable
if you can go quick, but if I could chose, I would rather not drive
here." |
|
|
|
|
| May 26,
2001 |
| Monaco Grand Prix - QUALIFYING |
| . |
| Ralf Schumacher said
"This is a pleasant qualifying result for me given that we
always have had quite a difficult time
on such twisty circuits." |
Ralf set the
quickest time of all in the third sector of the track on his penultimate
run, when he was a provisionally third quickest. In the closing stages
of the session he went out for his final run and was looking
good to improve when on the final corner he was
baulked badly by the Benetton of Jenson Button. Ralf said "There
was no point in even finishing the lap off, because it was ruined.
"
"It wasn't Jenson
fault - he'd had to back right off because he had been baulked by someone
else. I guess I have to be satisfied with fifth but I'm
sure we could have got onto the second row.
"Here at Monaco
every single grid place counts even
more desperately than usual but at least I'm on the clean
side of the track. It's only a little disappointing because we were
third this morning. Coming to the track I
wasn't expecting us to be as strong as we
are because normally we are not at our best on
twisty tracks." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:18.029 ( 5th ) |
|
|
|
|
|
| May 25,
2001 |
| RALF resting ahead of Saturday's qualifying
session |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher crashed in
to the barriers at the swimming pool
complex in the final minute
of yesterday's free practice sessions.
Ralf walked back to the pits
after his accident.But he complained
of head and
neck pain. He has been sent home by the team's
physiotherapists. He is currently
resting at his Monaco apartment
ahead of Saturday's
qualifying session. The team elected to cancel
all his press and team engagements for the remainder of Thursday
and Fridy. |
|
|
|
|
| May 24,
2001 |
| The BMW WilliamsF1 Team crew was left with
two heavily damaged cars |
| Montoya's suffered
rear end damage and a broken floor but Ralf Schumacher's
car was more extensively broken, as both the front and
rear suspensions were ripped off as well as the rear wing.
This car, too, suffered floor damage. |
| BMW WilliamsF1 Team
Chief Engineer Sam Michael said "There is
no damage to either of the actual
tubs, so we will be repairing them,
replacing the broken bits. That way we still have both spares
available should they be needed in qualifying or race day. " |
| "Usually it looks a lot worse
than it actually is. There are lots of external bits on the cars
and these all shear off and break and it looks
a real mess. But when you strip all that off, it's often
not too bad. Fortunately that's what we have here. It's given the mechanics
a lot of work to do, but that's
always a distinct possibility at this place." |
|
|
|
|
| May 24,
2001 |
| Monaco Grand Prix - FREE PRACTICE |
| . |
| Ralf Schumacher
said "The day went better than expected
and we were able to do all the work we wanted to
as the only fortunate thing about the accident was it happened just
before the end of the session. For me the gap to the top is too big so
we will have to work on this. The accident
was my fault as I was going too quickly." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:20.938 ( 3nd ) |
|
|
|
| May 21,
2001 |
| Monaco Grand Prix |
|
Thursday
May 24th :
free
practice 1.1 : 11.00 - 12.00
(GMT + 2)
free
practice 1.2 : 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT +
2) |
Saturday
May 26th :
free
practice 2.1 : 09.00 - 09.45 (GMT + 2)
free
practice 2.2 : 10.15 - 11.00
(GMT + 2)
qualifying
session : 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT + 2) |
Sunday
May 27th :
warm-up
: 09.30 - 10.00
(GMT + 2)
RACE
: 14.00 - 16.00
(GMT + 2) |
| . |
London
time: GMT+1 (Summer time)
Local
time : GMT+2 |
|
|
|
|
| May 19,
2001 |
| Ralf feels sorry for Button |
| . |
|
Ralf said "He
is obviously having a terrible time, But obviously while
you are having a terrible time you must make sure
you are not permanently out-qualified by your team-mate."
"Benetton are
at the back of the field but you should still
be trying to do the best you can."
"Jenson is a very good driver,
but then you have to make the best out of your situation. Obviously
Giancarlo seems to find it easier to do so."
"It is sometimes
not easy," said Ralf "Especially for him coming from a very good
team to Benetton."
"Basically it's
a disaster what we see at the moment
but as I heard they will try to bring in a new chassis
for the end of the season, so I hope for them that it will be a bit
better." |
|
|
|
|
| May 18,
2001 |
| Monaco Grand Prix - PREVIEW |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher said
"For drivers Monaco is a big challenge, especially
as it is very easy to make a mistake there and have an accident.
Having said this, it is one of
the highlights of the season. My only worry there is the circuit
doesn't match up to the current high safety standards
demanded in Formula One. We should be
well prepared, especially after the work
done in
Valencia. The main
question mark is how the tyres will
work, but I know Marc Gene has been
doing a lot of work with Michelin
and so am sure they will have
come up with some good compounds." |
|
|
|
|
|
| May 16,
2001 |
| VALENCIA TEST - Day Two |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher "Unluckily
I only did 20 laps due to technical
problems. Therefore there
is not much I can comment on. We have been working on
traction control, but could not do what was
planned for Michelin due to the lack
of running. Tonight I am
going to Berlin for the launch
of the new BMW 7 series and then am going home
to Austria." |
| . |
1. D.Coulthard
McLaren Mercedes 1:13.519
34 Laps
2. H-H Frentzen
Jordan Honda
1:14.365 84 Laps
3. R.Schumacher
WilliamsF1 BMW 1:14.827
20 Laps
4. M.Gene
WilliamsF1 BMW 1:15.028
67 Laps |
|
|
|
|
| May 14,
2001 |
| Next Test - VALENCIA |
| 15 May, Marc Gene |
| 16 May, Ralf Schumacher
- Marc Gene |
| 17 May, Ralf Schumacher
- Juan Pablo Montoya |
| 18 May, Ralf Schumacher
- Juan Pablo Montoya |
|
|
|
| May 13,
2001 |
| Austrian Grand Prix - RACE |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher "I had
a great start to the race, which proved our launch control
worked really well. I then had a
brake pressure problem so my pedal got longer and longer,
and at the
end I had nearly no
pressure left. I had to retire, that is all. Of course I am disappointed." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher Williams
BMW (M) DNF-lap 9 (brake problems) |
|
|
|
|
| May 12,
2001 |
| Post-Qualifying Press Conference - Austrian
GP |
| . |
| Question : Ralf, how
was qualifying for you; were you able to
make changes as the session was compressed into forty minutes? |
Ralf Schumacher : Well
obviously there wouldn't have been time for a big change but we knew
that our car was reasonably well balanced and that's
why we took the risk. I think qualifying went
relatively well.
One run I got held up by traffic
and I made a mistake myself on the
last run which can happen, shouldn't happen. I
think for a team we had good qualifying today and we are in a
pretty promising position tomorrow. |
| Question : How
are you going to work out your start tomorrow; you've
both been very quick off the line this year? |
| Ralf Schumacher : We'll
see what happens. Whoever gets to the first corner first will
go in first, I guess. It should be a problem at all - I hope. |
| Question : Ralf, are
you surprised by the team performance here? |
Ralf Schumacher : After
testing in Valencia I must say yes, we were generally
a second slower than the McLarens and
now suddenly we out qualified them by quite a bit. But
then whether we have the right choice for
a race distance we find out tomorrow.
We have done long runs but obviously the circuit was
very green then and it was a lot colder - as it
is supposed to be
tomorrow. I'm quite
sure that for the second half of the race we should be competitive
but for the first half until there's some rubber down
it could be a bit difficult. |
| Question : Is Juan's
performance a surprise to you as well? |
| Ralf Schumacher : No
it's not, he showed everybody in Brazil that he's quick so...
no. It's always nice if you out-qualify your team mate but
sometimes it happens, doesn't it? |
| Question : Are you
happy with the car here? |
| Ralf Schumacher : The
car was reasonable, it's good that you get to get a trouble free or mistake
free lap because to drive to the limit it's easy to over-brake
it or get a an oversteer on the corner exit so it was a bit
difficult, that was the reason why I only got one proper run in.
It happened to most people this weekend. It looks
very simple from the outside and in a way it is but it's
so slippery that it makes the whole thing difficult. |
| Question : Are we going
to see spins tomorrow then? |
| Ralf Schumacher :I
had my practice I guess, I spun today and twice
yesterday so that should be enough for the weekend. |
|
|
|
| May 12,
2001 |
| Austrian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING |
| . |
Ralf Sschumacher said
"A great result for the
whole team. On one hand it is better to be second than third, but
on the other Juan Pablo will have to start from the dirty
side of the track. The qualifying
was good, although I had some traffic
on one quick lap and did a small
mistake on another.
It is going to be tough to predict what will happen in the
race, but I think we are going to be strong in the second
half when the circuit has more rubber on it."
"I'm pleased with
the overall performance of the car and the
team. But from my own standpoint I'm disappointed I didn't make the
best run possible. On one run I got held up and on my last one I
made a mistake
"I'm surprised
we're as competitive as we are. After testing at
Valencia we were
1 second slower than McLaren and now we've
qualified ahead of them.
"The car is competitive but
it's still quite difficult to drive at the limit, especially here
where the surface is still quite slippery."
The prospect of racing his
brother Michael into the first corner, not to mention
team-mate Montoya, seems to hold no fears for Ralf. "We'll
just do as good a start as we can and try to be ahead going into
the first corner. But you cannot plan
these things, you've just got to see what
will happen." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:09.769 ( 3nd ) |
|
|
|
|
|
| May 11,
2001 |
| Austrian Grand Prix - FREE PRACTICE |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher Said
"I have no real problems so far. We were able to get through our schedule
and we have enough information now to make our
tyre choice. I think it will be tough to be in
the top six tomorrow because I think
Michael will make a big
improvement from
his performance today. The circuit, as we
expected, had no grip at first but improved as more rubber went down.
The car at first had understeer everywhere but by the end it had
quite a good balance." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:11.555 ( 4th ) |
|
|
|
| May 06,
2001 |
| Austrian Grand Prix |
| . |
Friday
May 11th :
free
practice 1.1 : 11.00 - 12.00
(GMT + 2)
free
practice 1.2 : 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT +
2) |
Saturday
May 12th :
free
practice 2.1 : 09.00 - 09.45 (GMT + 2)
free
practice 2.2 : 10.15 - 11.00
(GMT + 2)
qualifying
session : 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT + 2) |
Sunday
May 13th :
warm-up
: 09.30 - 10.00
(GMT + 2)
RACE
: 14.00 - 16.00
(GMT + 2) |
| . |
London
time: GMT+1 (Summer time)
Local
time : GMT+2 |
|
|
|
| May 04,
2001 |
| Austrian Grand Prix - PREVIEW |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher said :
"I decided to move to Austria, therefore at the
A-1 Ring I am going to have my
first home race of this season. The track is not very
demanding on drivers, nevertheless
racing here has
always been quite exciting. Unluckily in the last years
I didn't have that much luck and I hope this
time it's all going to change. I will do
my best to get a good result to our team." |
|
|
|
|
|
| May 04
, 2001 |
| VALENCIA TEST Day
Four |
| . |
| For the final day of
a four-day test at the Spanish circuit
of Valencia the BMW WilliamsF1 Team took part in a special Michelin wet
weather tyre test. |
| The drivers had
to come in every ten minutes while the track was flooded as the warm
weather was constantly drying out the track. |
|
|
|
|
| May 03
, 2001 |
| VALENCIA TEST Day
Three |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher "Today
we focused mainly on tyre development and traction control, which
is improving very well, and I think we will be able to use it in
Austria. We still have some work to do with
Michelin in order to get the best
out of the tyres at the A-1 Ring."
. |
1. D.
Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes
(B) 1:13.598 (106 laps)
2. E.Irvine
Jaguar-Cosworth (M)
1:13.817 (48 laps)
3. R.Schumacher
Williams-BMW
(M) 1:14.315 (67 laps)
4. A.
Wurz
McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:14.442
(55 laps)
5. J.P.Montoya
Williams-BMW
(M) 1:14.580 (41 laps) |
|
|
|
|
| May 02
, 2001 |
| VALENCIA TEST Day
Two |
| . |
Ralf
Schumacher said "In the morning I did some tyres testing for
Michelin,
trying out different compounds for the Austrian Grand Prix.
My programme today has also included
some aero work. Tomorrow our plan is to do a race
simulation."
. |
1.
M.Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes
(B) 1:13.498 (74 laps)
2.
D.Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes
(B) 1:13.852 (50 laps)
3.
R.Schumacher Williams-BMW
(M) 1:14.555 (80 laps)
4.
J.P.Montoya Williams-BMW
(M) 1:14.611 (46 laps) |
|
|
|
|
| May 01
, 2001 |
|
|
The
BMW WilliamsF1 Team started a four day test at the Spanish circuit
of Valencia with Juan Pablo Montoya
and Marc Gene driving. For the remaining
three days Ralf Schumacher will be
joining
Juan Pablo. |
|
|
|
|
|
| May 01
, 2001 |
| VALENCIA TEST |
| . |
| The
BMW WilliamsF1 Team is testing in
Valencia, Spain, on the 1st,
2nd, 3rd and 4th May. |
|
|
|
|
|
