Willi Weber Q&A

"Ralf drove a brilliant race with no mistakes, and it was absolutely fantastic. The way he drove I think nobody could beat him. I think this was not the last win from Ralf this year."



"That's true, yes. He has the material he's needed, and now he has it I'm very pleased for him, and very proud."



"He's undergone the normal development of a human being. He's worked very hard this year for this success, and you can see that he's doing his job. I think that after this great win he will continue to work much harder for the next win."



"I must say, yes. When we had the chance to move to Williams we both took it immediately, because Williams is one of the best F1 teams, and we knew that BMW has the resources needed to build an engine that can win races. But I didn't expect it so quickly, to be honest. Everything has gone fantastically quickly, and now I think we have a package together to allow us to win more races."



"I think personally that if this accident didn't happen in Brazil, he could also win that race maybe, and show his potential. But it was a little test to show everybody how strong the package was. And in Imola it was fantastic."



"Absolutely. He had a fantastic start, he moved to the front, and he stayed the whole race at the front. I have one eye laughing and one eye crying because of the problems with Michael, but at the end of the day it was a fantastic day."



"Yes, sure, it looked much easier after the first two races. But we still have a lot of races to go, and things can change immediately. McLaren could maybe stop in the next race or the race after. Now they're equal on points, so it's like starting a new race, zero-zero. We will see what the future brings. But I'm still optimistic that Michael Schumacher will be the winner of this championship in 2001."



"Why not!"



"I would not say now after the first win that we can go for the championship. I think it's too early. I'm sure that Ralf will show up in the front in a couple of races, and disturb the balance of McLaren and Ferrari, no doubt about it. The more races he can win the more stable he gets as a race driver. I know it's a fantastic thing to win a race. It gives you much more self confidence for the future.



"It'll be nice. We'll see really hard fights, but they will always be fair because they know each other so well, and they're brothers, although of course each driver is fighting for his own team. It's going to be a very interesting season..."