Mario Theissen Q&A
The one-two in the European GP at the Nurburgring came at a perfect time for Williams and BMW. Not only did the result bring the team back into title contention, it also coincided with the announcement of an extended partnership between the two companies. With the complex negotiations now out of the way both parties can focus on making the package go faster, which is a worrying prospect for Ferrari and McLaren, as the car has been extremely competitive in the last three races. Adam Cooper asked BMW boss Mario Theissen for his thoughts
"Of course, it's one of the 16 races where we want a result like that! Well, I won't talk about Mercedes, that happened to us earlier this year as well, but it was certainly a fantastic performance of our drivers and our team. The car was quick, and even in the final stages of the race our drivers were lapping one second quicker than anyone else, and to see that is very rewarding."
"Well, apparently we have been very good on three very different tracks now, and this means we have really closed the gap to Ferrari, and I think we even passed McLaren-Mercedes in the points standings. So we are back in the picture, and that's a good prospect for the second part of the season."
"I don't see any single step. I see several hundred people at Williams and several hundred people at BMW working day and night for months, and they found here something, there something, and all together it adds up. I don't forget Michelin - they have given us the rubber to win."
"Obviously he controlled the race from very early on. I don't know if Kimi would have won, it depends on the race strategy, but other than that Ralf was in control of everything, and he didn't make any mistakes."
"I wouldn't say confused, but certainly they are operating at the same level, and it depends on your daily condition if one is ahead of the other. We saw that several times now. Last year Juan was superior in qualifying, and early this year he was good, and now apparently Ralf is ahead. But I think the important thing is that both are pushing each other, and they are not taking away points from each other."
"I said to Frank we should have closed the deal earlier, because it worked immediately. It's good for the whole team to have this long term perspective now, and to completely focus on our competitors."
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