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ITALIAN GRAND PRIX - RACE, SEPTEMBER 12, 2004 |
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Written by Jeff Seabrook
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Monday September 13, 2004 |
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Weather: Overcast, drying up. Temp: Air 22°C, Track 26-28°C, Humidity 73-75
Monza (ITA). The BMW WilliamsF1 Team collected some more points today in the Italian Grand Prix, where Juan Pablo Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia finished in 5th and 7th positions respectively.
Juan Pablo Montoya: 5th
Chassis: FW26 05
Best time: 1:22.929 min (lap 32, 10th overall)
I didn't have enough grip at the start and I lost one position to Alonso. My car was pretty good in both the first and the second stints when we were close to the cars in front and quite competitive. However, in the last stint the car became very difficult to drive. After the pit-stop I dropped from 3rd to 6th position and I could not keep up with the cars in front anymore because of a gearbox problem. Today we collected some more points, which is good, but you would expect a better finish when starting from the first row.
Antonio Pizzonia: 7th
Chassis: FW26 07
Best time: 1:22.246 min (lap 32, 3rd overall)
My race was basically compromised on the very first lap, when I got hit from behind and spun off. I was very lucky to get out of the gravel and that my car wasn't damaged but still I dropped to 19th position. After that, I basically spent my race climbing up the field and I eventually finished in 7th position behind Coulthard. We were very close and I hoped that I could overtake him but he had more speed than me on the straight and I just couldn't pass him. I had a good opportunity with a couple of laps to go when David made a mistake in the last corner and I got very close to him coming out of the Parabolica, but we both locked our wheels and hit each other going in to the first chicane, luckily with no consequence for either of us.
Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1):
It is a disappointing result considering where Juan was earlier in the race when he was fighting with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. We lost time during Juan's first pit stop and we had to hold him due to a lot of traffic in the pit lane. Towards the end of the race Juan had to slow down with a gearbox problem. Antonio had an unfortunate first lap and came round last. From then on he drove an excellent race finishing seventh, in the process setting the third fastest lap time and the quickest Michelin runner.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
If we look at our lap times, we could have achieved something better, today. We had the potential for a podium finish. Still, both of our cars finished in the points. At the start of the race the track was damp and this resulted in a hectic opening sequence to the Grand Prix. Juan Pablo maintained third position until the first stop when he was delayed due to two cars passing by in the pit lane at exactly the time when he had finished his pit-stop. On top of this he had some problems with the gearbox and he could only achieve 5th place in the end. After his collision, Antonio showed great recovery skills. Both engines have successfully passed the notoriously hard Monza engine examination.
Test: Silverstone 14-16 September: Ralf Schumacher and Marc Gené all days
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Thursday January 08, 2009
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