For the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix was a race to forget. Ralf Schumacher had to make do with 7th place, while Juan Pablo Montoya, who seemed to be on the way to a certain third position, was hampered by a technical problem and finished 13th.
The first of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team pairing to experience a dose of bad luck was Ralf Schumacher. At the start, the German lost two positions to Renault’s Jarno Trulli and B.A.R.’s Takuma Sato but worked hard to regain these positions as quickly as possible.
At the end of lap one he was already back in fifth place and started to pressurise Sato for fourth position. Ralf attacked the Japanese driver several times and on lap six he had nearly passed him when the two rivals collided. Sato continued without further problems, but Ralf’s WilliamsF1 BMW FW26 was hit hard and spun.
Ralf, therefore, was forced to pit to have his car checked over. When the team had confirmed that the car was okay, the German continued, driving a solid race and fighting his way back up to seventh place, thus scoring two points.
For Ralf’s team-mate, Juan Pablo Montoya, however, things seemed to be running far better. The Colombian made a good start, defending his grid position, and seemed to be on the way to a certain third place, chasing the Ferraris for more than 40 laps. But with just 10 laps remaining, Juan Pablo, too, suffered bad luck.
His FW26's gearbox started to develop a problem and on the 49th lap the BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver was passed by B.A.R.’s Jenson Button for fourth place. Over the course of the following laps, the 28-year-old continued to lose gears and positions and consequently had to complete the final lap (57) with only fourth gear available. The result: 13th place and no points to add to his tally.
“We shouldn’t dramatise things,” said BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen, after the race, “Of course this wasn’t the result we had hoped for. Nevertheless, we are leaving Bahrain with some positive impressions. Yesterday, we took our best qualifying result of the season so far, and although Ferrari has again proven to be a class of its own in race trim, we have been able to further reduce the gap in this area, lapping only 0.5 slower.”
“Of course it isn’t possible to close such a gap completely within just a few weeks,” added Theissen, “But believe me, we will work hard to accelerate our development and to close the gap as quickly as possible.”
Michael Schumacher won the Bahrain Grand Prix with his team-mate Rubens Barrichello and B.A.R.’s Jenson Button accompanying the World Champion onto the podium. The other points were scored by Jarno Trulli (Renault), Takuma Sato (B.A.R.), Fernando Alonso (Renault), Ralf and Jaguar’s Mark Webber.
