The BMW WilliamsF1 Team achieved it's first podium of the season today with a brilliant 3rd place from Nick Heidfeld, who also equalled his best Formula One finish ever. With 20 laps to go Mark Webber retired after an accident when he was battling for third position.

Nick Heidfeld: 3rd
Chassis: FW27 04 - Best time: 1:35.712min (lap 40, 2nd overall)
I am very happy, this was the most exciting race I ever had in F1. I pushed hard from the start since I had to recover from my 10th grid position and I had a good race with some exciting overtaking. It was real fun. At a lot of stages I got involved in battles with two other cars and we had several good fights, but in the end I got the upper hand. The car performed well and so did the BMW engine and our Michelin tyres. Still, as usual in a hot race when it is the last thing you would like to happen, I had a problem with the drink bottle from the very first laps, which made my life more difficult.

Mark Webber: DNF (accident - lap 37)
Chassis: FW27 03 - Best time: 1:36.026min (lap 20, 5th overall)
I had a pretty good start and set it into a reasonable rhythm and after the first pit stop I started to catch Fisichella who was holding me up quite a lot as his tyres were finished. I had Ralf behind me and I knew he could pounce anytime. We had a tight fight but I got in front of him in the end. Then with 20 laps to go I closed up with Fisichella again. His tyres were getting worse and worse, I passed him at turn 14 and left him plenty of room. Then Giancarlo came on the inside on the next corner and I knew it would be difficult for him to stop on the dirty side. I went back onto the clean side and I think Fisi braked too late, locked his tyres on the dirty stuff, lost the rear end and took my car out.

Sam Michael (Technical Director WilliamsF1): It was a good day for us showing that the car performance is improving steadily. Nick proved himself to be a fantastic racer with all the overtaking he did without causing any incident. He drove the second fastest lap of the race and finished third coming from tenth. We have scored some points which we definitely needed and it is a shame that Mark had this coming together with Fisichella. However, that's racing. Today the car has been competitive. But we know we need to push hard to close the gap to Renault. We had no mechanical problems.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): It is pleasing to come away with a podium from this tough challenge. Both the drivers showed strong racing today. I am especially happy for Nick. After a bad qualifying he managed to find his way onto the podium. Before his accident, it was Mark who had third place in sight. Both engines came through this very hot race absolutely troublefree, thanks to our crew in Munich. The telemetry on Nick's car failed to work until just before the 2nd pit-stop therefore until that point our engineers had no data about the engine's condition.

Test: Barcelona: 24-25 March - Mark Webber + Antonio Pizzonia.

2005 Malaysian Grand Prix - Main Page

Sunday Qualifying

Weather: dry, sunny.
Air 34-36ďż˝C, Track 44-50ďż˝C, Humidity 38-45%

Mark Webber will start this afternoon's Malaysian Grand Prix from the second row, having qualified fourth, whereas team-mate Nick Heidfeld will start a few rows behind, having achieved the 10th best aggregate time. The race will start at 15:00 local time (CET).

Mark Webber: Chassis: FW27 03
It's obviously tricky for the drivers to come here and do the best they can on their first lap out with a very different fuel load from yesterday and consequently with a car which is 2 1/2 or even 3 seconds slower. Qualifying in Melbourne was atypical so today's result should reflect more the true situation. I am pleased with my lap time and it will be interesting to see how the race will unfold since, of course, fuel loads are different for everyone.

Nick Heidfeld: Chassis: FW27 04 (T-car FW27 02)
It wasn't the best lap for me today. I am not satisfied with it. I made a mistake on turn four, which cost me some time and therefore a few grid positions. On top of that, the balance of my car was quite different from what I had expected and my FW27 was hard to handle. Anyway, we'll see how the race goes, since our pace on Friday in the long runs was pretty good and we are therefore confident.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a mixed qualifying session for us. Mark put himself in a good position for today's race. It is a shame about Nick's lap. He lost about half a second due to a mistake in sector two. It is going to be a long race in very hot conditions this afternoon. After the first clean and normal qualifying sessions of the season, we are now looking forward to see where the true pace of everyone in the race is.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): It was a second final qualifying with a mixed result for us. Mark gained two positions whereas Nick lost two in respect to Saturday's first qualifying. I think Mark's lap was very good. He'll start this demanding and hot race from the second row, which is a good grid position. After an outstanding first sector Nick went off track at turn four and he lost quite some time there together with the chance to get a better place on the grid.

2005 Malaysian Grand Prix - Main Page

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