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BMW Williams F1 Monaco GP free practice

1 June 2000

Monaco Grand Prix - FREE PRACTICE
1st June 2000
Weather:  Sunny. 24°C average

BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button
were 6th and 13th quickest in the first free practice sessions for the
Monaco Grand Prix.  At the beginning of the morning session, Ralf
unfortunately struck the tyre wall which limited his first free practice
hour to just one lap.

Ralf Schumacher
Chassis:
         FW22 05
T-Car Chassis:
    FW22 03
Best Time:
         1:22.700 
         Position:
    6th 
"Unfortunately I lost a lot of time in the morning session because
when I came down to the Virage du Portier corner I lost the rear of the
car, touched the tyre wall and this meant the end of my first free
practice. In the afternoon we improved quite a lot and I ended up in
sixth position. We still need to improve the set up as I have some
understeer problems, consequently I am losing some time on
acceleration out of the corners. Nevertheless I can say I am quietly
optimistic both for qualifying and the race. "

Jenson Button
Chassis:
         FW22 04
Best Time:
         1:23.578
         Position:
    13th  
"It was good to get some laps on this circuit, which is very
demanding, no doubt. I like it though, even if the main problem here is
the traffic, which was a nightmare and prevented me from getting one
good clear lap. I spent these two sessions learning the circuit and we
didn't experience any major problems. Hopefully on Saturday we can
move up the times!"

Patrick Head (Technical Director, WilliamsF1)
"Jenson did a lot of good homework and good preparation for
qualifying and for the race. He had a very good day and was
amazingly quick to be on the pace. Ralf rather upset his day by having
an accident on his first timed lap in the morning, losing all the first
session, therefore we spent the afternoon doing everything we might
have done in the morning. He's a little bit behind but we are sure we
can catch up for Saturday."

Dr Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)
"With regards to the engine, the start of the weekend was as planned:
we are on the right path to set the tuning needed for Monaco. Here
the drivability is more important than the top performance.
Unfortunately both the sessions today were hampered by several
yellow flags, which prevented us from achieving a good number of
quick laps consecutively. Anyway I believe that we are quite well
prepared for the weekend. "

BMW Motorsport Press:  Guido.Stalmann@bmw.de

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403-287-3945