Patrick Head Q&A
The Brazilian GP looked set to be another glory day for Williams, BMW and Michelin, but despite the apparent strength of the package Michael Schumacher came out on top. The consensus is that had Juan Pablo Montoya held his lead into the first corner, the Colombian would have been impossible to beat, and even if he had stayed behind Michael for the first stint he would still have been well placed to get in front at the stops. However, the first lap collision put a stop to that. Meanwhile Ralf Schumacher drove another sensible race and brought home six points, but had been able to stay closer to his brother in the early stages, he too might have won. Michelin's apparent superiority was trounced, and Sunday afternoon gave technical director Patrick Head plenty to think about
"I don't know, we'll have to look at the film and make a judgement. But he was he car behind, and it was Juan that was moving across to the right, but I think he was just too close. We need to look and see if there's some film from the top [of the car] or something. But whatever it was, it destroyed his race for big points."
"Well he did get into the first corner first, and he was fully ahead, but he couldn't hold his line so he slid out to the right, and when that happens you lose the grip and you can't drive out. So Juan went into the first corner too quickly, so he made a mistake in the first corner, and paid the penalty."
"Basically if you're going to win a championship you don't bump into other cars, that's all there is to it."
"I don't think we predict what the result of the race is, but we certainly thought we were quite strong, and we certainly thought we had the possibility to win the race. So obviously it's disappointing not to win. But we don't go away from here thinking we can't beat Ferrari. Whatever it was, 0.5s or something, it could have gone either way with more changes of set-up on the car. So we've got to do a better job next time. It was very close."
"It certainly seems to be strong and it's a really a question of what level of development can be brought to it through the year."
"I don't think we have any false expectations. People said one ridiculous thing after Melbourne, and then another ridiculous thing after Malaysia. We don't really listen!"
"I hope so. Obviously it helps us if it's warm, and we're going back to Europe where it's only just coming out of winter at the moment. But I'm sure that Michelin can produce tyres which are capable of being competitive in cooler conditions, so we'll have to see."
"No, I think if he could have had a go he would have done so. I don't know, maybe we were running a bit too much wing or something, but we just couldn't get to grips with the Ferrari on the straight. He drove very maturely, and obviously we hope to do better next time out."
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