Troubled Practice for Williams Pair

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya endured a troubled start to their United States Grand Prix and finished off the pace in today's practice session.

Schumacher finished down in tenth position more than 1.5 seconds off the pace set by his brother Michael after damaging his Williams in the second session. Ralf lost control of his car at the slowest corner of the circuit and crashed backwards, losing his rear wing. Despite the damage he was able to take the car back to the pits.

"We have done a lot of work today," said Schumacher. "As usual on a Friday we were a bit conservative and concentrated on race set-up instead of trying to get a good time in. We think we have also made our tyre choice. The track was very slippery, therefore several drivers spun.

"In the first hour, when the track was still a bit damp in some places, I went off and slid backwards taking off my rear wing in the process."

Colombian Montoya, a former Indy 500 winner and holder of the Formula One lap record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after last year's race, lapped 16th fastest after he pulled over onto the verge towards the end of the session due to a problem with his engine.

"I was hoping for a better free practice session today, as a start to my US GP weekend," admitted Montoya. "The balance of my car is not still ideal but we have collected valuable data to solve the problems. During the second session I felt my engine was sounding strange so I went back to the pits.

"The team tried to address the problem and then they let me out again to see if it had improved but this wasn't the case so I had to pull aside on my out lap."