Kрайно класиране:
1. МИХАЕЛ ШУМАХЕР (бау ) (Гер, Ферарио) 1:24:15, 757 ч
2. Рубенс Баричело (Бр, Ферарио) + 0'13"600
3. Фернандо Алонсо (Исп, Рено) + 0'34"600
4. Ралф Шумахер (Гер, Уилямс БМВ) + 1'00"400
5. Хуан Пабло Монтоя (Кол, Уилямс БМВ) + 1'08"500

Шуми би рекорда в Мелбърн

Australian GP: McLaren race notes


2004-03-07


Team McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard finished today's opening race of the 2004 season in eighth place. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen retired on lap 10 at turn three with an engine failure caused by a loss of water pressure, the reason of which is still unknown. David completed his two pitstops on laps 14 (11.7 seconds) and 36 (10.7 seconds).


David Coulthard:


"It has really been an unsatisfying weekend for us and the one point we achieved today is a very small consolation. I made a good start and gained a few places but eighth was all we could do. We are not where we want to be, but we will work very hard on getting there and hopefully should be able to improve for the Malaysian Grand Prix in a few weeks."


Kimi Raikkonen:


"I'm very disappointed with our performance this weekend, but hopefully we can do better in the next race. I stalled at the start and lost a few places but managed to regain most of them during the first couple of corners. The car felt good, but unfortunately it didn't last very long, and I retired with an engine failure ? definitely not the best way to start the season."


Ron Dennis:


"To say it was a difficult weekend for the team would be somewhat of an understatement. Our poor performance was amplified by the low ambient temperatures which certainly didn't favour any of the Michelin runners. We believe we have an understanding of the areas which need to be improved and only a careful analysis and a team driven recovery plan will resolve our problems."


Norbert Haug:


"Our target has been to go for wins from the very first race, and we didn't achieve this today. Our technical package has to be improved and everybody in the team knows what is required. In two weeks in Malaysia we all want to see an upwards trend. Kimi's engine failure will be investigated and we will tell the media the result afterwards."


David Coulthard: MP4-19 03
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-19 04
T-car (David): MP4-19 01
Spare: MP4-19 02


-mclaren-

Australian GP: Williams race notes


2004-03-07


Melbourne (AUS). Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya finished 5th and 6th respectively in the season opening Australian GP, in Melbourne. After the first race the BMW WilliamsF1 Team is second in the Constructors Championship with 9 points behind the race winning Ferrari team.


Ralf Schumacher:


Of course I cannot be happy with today's result, even if, after all, I have made up four places from my starting position and I have collected some points for the team. We were on a good strategy and the team did an excellent job in the pits. Worrying is the fact is that at this race, we are missing one second from Ferrari, which I didn't expect and I believe this is down mainly to the design of their car as well as to some tyre graining for us, which we have to overcome. The whole of our package needs to improve slightly and this is going to take maybe a couple of races, but I am confident we can make it.


Juan Pablo Montoya:


I didn't take advantage at all of my third place on the grid, since right after the start I was trying to defend my position from Alonso and I went off track, losing four places. After that, I spent my race trying to find the right moment to overtake the cars in front of me but that was no easy job, since the balance of my car wasn't ideal and on top of that I had quite a lot of tyre graining. I also experienced a problem with my right rear wheel during my third pit-stop which lost me some more time.


Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):


Juan obviously had a big moment in the first corner and lost some positions. Then he spent the rest of the race making up from there. Meanwhile, Ralf gained two places at the start. Our performance today was not really enough compared to Ferrari or Renault but it is far from a bad result either. We have got both cars in the points and we come away from Australia with second place in the championship. Now we are looking forward to the hot tracks in Malaysia and Bahrain.


Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):


The result does not really match our expectations, especially not the size of the gap to Ferrari. Ferrari proved that they remain the leading team. Like we did last year, we will work very hard in order to improve our package during the season. Both the BMW P84 engines have passed with flying colours, the first weekend under the new rules, without any problems. We did not pose any limitation of mileage in free practice. All in all we recorded 1, 294 kilometres during this weekend. Neither in qualifying nor in the race did we need to reduce the revs of our engines.


Ralf Schumacher: 4th
Chassis: FW26 03
Best time: 1:25.824 min (lap 11, 5th)


Juan Pablo Montoya: 5th
Chassis: FW26 05
Best time: 1:25, 286 min (lap 42, 4th)


-williams-