F1-Live.com (Montpelier, France)
August 26, 2005

PRECAUTIONARY CHANGES TO THE FW27 FOR MONZA

The forthcoming Italian Grand Prix at Monza marks a distinct shift in
the complexion of racing for the five end of season Grand Prix, all of
which are characteristically power tracks. Monza itself is possibly
the most demanding in this regard, with the lowest levels of downforce
all year combined with engines run at their limits.

The team has concluded its enquiry into the tyre incidents in Turkey,
determining as far as possible that a set of conditions spanning
mechanical set-up, bodywork configuration and tyre deflections caused
the problems experienced at the last race. Although the car
specification in this area had raced without incident in previous
Grand Prix, a number of precautionary changes have been made to the
car and engineers are confident the team will not experience a repeat
of the problems.

Nick Heidfeld

"Monza is definitely one of the most unusual circuits on the calendar.
It's a traditional track with a great heritage and has a unique
design. We reach very high speeds at Monza, in fact they're the
highest that we see all season at over 360km/h! You need a special
set-up for Monza as well as a particular aerodynamic configuration.
For this race, the teams develop specially designed aerodynamic
packages. These need to work under low downforce conditions but also
allow the car to handle properly in the high speed sections. You
therefore need a car that has a good top speed for the high speed
straights, one that has aerodynamic efficiency for the slow chicanes
and, finally, a car that works well on the high kerbs. Just like
Imola, Monza is always special because the Italian fans bring such a
great atmosphere to the race."

Mark Webber

"Monza is a circuit that stands alone in terms of set-up. It's a very,
very high speed circuit where we are looking for a maximum speed all
the time. I've finished in the points on this track in the last couple
of years and I hope that we can do that again this time. We might not
quite have the pace of McLaren and Renault, but I think we can get a
reasonable result. If we can get some good, solid points it will be
not a bad race for us."

"Ever since my first year in Formula One, when I drove for Minardi,
I've spent a lot of time in Italy, not far from Imola, and I can say
it's definitely among my favourite few countries. I love coming to
Italy. The Italians love cycling and the food's excellent, it's just a
fantastic country."

Sam Michael, Technical Director Director

"Monza stands out from other circuits due to the fact that it is
dominated by long straights, a couple of chicanes and four important
corners, top speeds will also be the highest that we've seen all year.
Set-up demands very low drag, in order to achieve this, we use
specific front and rear wings unique to Monza. It is important to have
a good balance through the medium speed corners and for the car to
handle well over the curbs. To address the tyre incidents that we
experienced in Istanbul, we have worked through all the possible
variables, such as pressure and camber, with Michelin."

"In the Williams R&D labs at Grove we also performed some loaded tyre
tests to check what type of deflections the tyres would have seen
during the lap. Finally, at the test in Monza last week, we went
through various trims of the bodywork to ensure that there is no
possibility for the tyre to touch anything on the car. We also worked
through cooling levels, brake set-ups and tyre evaluations to select
the optimum configuration for the FW27 in preparation for the race."

Most have tested this week at Monza

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director

"Monza is an outstanding circuit for engines and, as such, is always a
very special Grand Prix for BMW. The cars are flat out for 69 percent
of the lap, the highest full-throttle ratio of any Formula One
circuit. Monza ranks among the top few circuits where engines have to
operate on a sustained full throttle over various parts of the track.
On the current F1 calendar, there are three similar full- throttle
sections which demand everything of the engines. Topping the league is
Spa (1,821 metres, if Eau Rouge is taken flat out). Almost on a par is
Indianapolis (1,820 metres), followed by Monza (1,268 metres). When it
comes to speed, Monza outstrips all other race tracks. In 2004, Juan
Pablo Montoya set an F1 record in pre- qualifying when he recorded an
average speed of 262.242 km/h. Antonio Pizzonia also claimed a Formula
One record with a top speed of 369.9 km/h during the race."

"For the Italian Grand Prix, we will have new BMW P84/5 engines, as
scheduled. In Turkey, we had a good chance of scoring points before we
suffered a disappointing setback. Our goal, however, remains
unchanged; we want to end the 2005 season with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team
with some good results."

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