10/06/2005
NEWS STORY
Despite the hot and humid day, the grandstands at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were packed out today. Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber had a reasonable working day, mainly collecting data and familiarizing themselves with the newly resurfaced circuit.
Mark Webber: The track was better than we thought. They have done a good job with the resurfacing. This is a very difficult task because of the extreme temperatures they have here between winter to summer. We have collected a lot of useful data to look through tonight. It’s of course better than what we had on Friday at the Nurburgring, where still we made the right choice, even though we had very little data! Today was a good day for the team.
Nick Heidfeld: First of all I must say I was pleasantly surprised that the circuit hasn’t seemed to have lost much grip because of the resurfacing. If you look at the lap times, speeds are similar to last year, although the last chicane really makes a difference because the kerbs are a lot higher which makes that part of the circuit a lot slower. Otherwise it has been quite a hot day which should be similar to what we will have on Sunday. Now we have to do all our tyre work, which is even more difficult here for Michelin, because of the new surface.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): We have had a good day as we were working through our programme for the race. We achieved long runs on both tyres, which has given us good information to make our tyre choice with Michelin. We have also recorded plenty of information regarding the brakes which is one of the most important things in Montréal. Obviously a lot of rubber is going down and the track is going faster. However, the new track surface does not make a big difference. Now we will look for the best set-up for tomorrow's qualifying.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): It was a trouble free first day for both of our drivers. They completed an extensive programme focusing on tyre evaluation. Despite the high ambient temperatures, oil and water temperatures of the engines have been on the safe side. What actually helps is the high speed on the long straights which brings good cooling air.