Williams BMW’s chief engineer Sam Michael says that Ralf Schumacher could have won at Hockenheim. But the little luck that went the team’s way fell into Juan-Pablo Montoya’s lap.
Williams BMW’s chief engineer Sam Michael says that Ralf Schumacher could have won the German Grand Prix. But the little luck that went the team’s way fell into Juan-Pablo Montoya’s lap.
Ralf challenged his brother Michael for pole position and seemed to outpace Montoya all weekend. Ralf was on course to finish second until an unscheduled pit visit four laps from the end, to put air into the engine’s pneumatic valve system, dropped him behind Montoya.
“Obviously the air problem meant that he would not win today,” said Michael. “But I think the race really showed what a difference being on pole would have been. If we had been, then we would have been ahead of Michael for the first few laps and then we would have got stronger throughout the stint. We got held up at that first pit stop and without it I think we could have got ahead.”
Ralf’s Williams ran two laps longer than the leading Ferrari before the first pit stop, but the younger Schumacher lost crucial time lapping Jarno Trulli. Once both Schumacher’s had completed their first stops, Michael led by 3,9s. Had it not been for Ralf’s problems, the race would have been a closer contest.
“Also, I had understeer on my first set of tyres but the second set was better and, in fact, we didn’t risk destroying the balance by changing them at the second stop," said Ralf.
Ralf also suffered a communications problem with the Williams pit crew that second stop, which lost him a little more time. “If I look at the problems I had today, I should be happy to have finished third,” he added.
Montoya, in turn, admitted that his second place in Germany was a touch fortunate.
The Colombian has had a barren spell of late, despite starting the last five races from pole position. But he got his best result in three months at Hockenheim, even though he only started fourth.
He said: "It is better to be lucky than good. At the end of the day, that’s motor racing. I have been on pole for the last five races and this is my best result in six races."
Montoya had a magnificent battle with Kimi Raikkonen early on in the race.
"The fight was very entertaining. After he passed me at the start I had a few chances to overtake him, but it was too risky and I preferred waiting. Then the team told me I could make it and pumped my revs up, which gave me some additional power.
"I had good acceleration and Raikkonen did as well but then he made a mistake and I got past," Montoya said.
