"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," said JPM. "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 tire graining. I also experienced a problem with my right rear wheel during my third pit- stop which lost me some more time."
 |
| Starting in third, JPM of BMW-Williams got off the track at the start and quickly fell four places, and ended up finishing 5th overall. (Photo: Planet-F1.com) |
It makes one wonder if the team is getting back at him for announcing his 2005 season switch to arch-rival McLaren-Mercedes, but if Sunday's race was a realistic example of what lay ahead for the German-British team then JPM will be eating mid-pack exhaust fumes next season - retribution enough for Williams.
While the race was a yawn fest, there's always qualifying to heat things up, right? That may have been the case two seasons ago, but in today's F1 no so. Through a great deal of manipulation the powers that be have managed to suck the life out of pre-race activities too. The need to pamper the engines, due to this year's one-engine per weekend ruling, made the Friday practice more of a parade for disappointed spectators than an all-out run for top-gear bragging rights, while Saturday's two-part qualifying was hardly more intriguing.