Pitstop Glitches Cost Williams Dear

The Williams team have blamed a series of problems during their drivers' pitstops for missing the podium in today's San Marino Grand Prix.

Both Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya looked strong for a big part of the race after having started from second and fourth positions respectively. The Colombian's chances of a podium finish, however, suffered a blow when he was forced to return to the pits immediately after his second pitstop, as too little fuel had gone in due to a problem with the rig.

"In general our chassis improvements became visible in Imola," said chief engineer Sam Michael. "However our race was hampered by a few things. We went for a three stop strategy which promised to be the quicker one, which is proven by the fact that the race winner stopped three times too.

"But this strategy does not leave any margin if anything goes wrong, and we had several problems at the pit stops, the worst one being a malfunctioning fuel rig."

Ralf, mourning the death of his mother, went on to finish in fourth position, while Montoya finished down in seventh.