French Grand Prix - RACE 3rd July 2005

Weather: Sunny, dry. Temp: Air 30-32 °C, Track 50-51°C

Magny-Cours (FRA) The BMW WillismF1 team drivers Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld
finished in 12th and 14th position respectively in today's 70-lap race, after
both the cars experienced some technical problems. The team will now work to
analyse and understand the reason of these in order to improve their
performance for the next Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend.

Mark Webber: 12th Best time: 1:18,395 (lap 17, 15th overall)
Chassis: FW27 05 / BMW P84/5 engine 2nd GP
My race was hampered today by a huge problem I had with heat in the cockpit
area. It became so intense that I had to ask for some water to be poured in
around my seat at the pit-stops. It was very uncomfortable to race in that
condition and as a result, I now have a large raw burn on my right hip which
the doctor has treated. The race itself was difficult, because after starting
from poor grid position, we were struggling at the back of the pack. We have a
lot of work to do.

Nick Heidfeld: 14th Best time: 1:18,102 (lap 36, 13th overall)
Chassis: FW27 04 / BMW P84/5 engine 2nd GP
For once at the start I didn't manage to gain any position. Then, at the
beginning of the race, I was close to Mark and Coulthard for a while. I stayed
ahead of David after the first pit-stop but he pitted later for the second and
went in front. Then, suddenly I felt something very wrong with the car. I
thought it was a suspension that had failed because it felt really strange,
especially in a straight line. From the pits the engineers told me that there
was a problem with the differential but that we should try to stay out in order
to get the best race result possible for qualifying at the next race in
Silverstone. The car was very difficult to drive today.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
It was a disappointing race for the team. The performance was not our normal
level and we will make the neccessary investigations back at the factory. We
also had mechanical problems on both cars that we could also see on the data on
the pit-wall. We now need to disassemble and reassemble the cars to confirm
what parts have failed in the drive line.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
The race was as weak as the qualifying. Neither of our drivers had a chance to
improve. Towards the end of the race, both cars suffered mechanical problems
which need to be analyzed. The engines ran without problem. Before the Grand
Prix in Silverstone we need to analyse the data of this weekend in order to
find the reason for our weak performance here. Testing would be helpful in this
situation, but is impossible due to the calendar.

Current pictures available for download at www.bmw-wf1-media.com and
www.press.bmw.com