BMW continues their review of the final season with the WilliamsF1 team, the following summary being from the Hungarian Grand Prix until the season ending Chinese Grand Prix, the final race contested with the Grove based squad….

Hungarian GP

After coming away from four GPs empty-handed, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team finally made it back into the points in the hot cauldron of the Hungaroring, where Heidfeld and Webber finished sixth and seventh. Their qualifying positions – Heidfeld twelfth, Webber 16th – had appeared worse than they actually were, with Webber being the second man to go out. The team had opted for a two-stop strategy with long first stints and both cars were correspondingly heavy with fuel. It wasn’t exactly a smooth start to the race either.

Accidents at the head of the field took both Red Bull cars out of the race. By the end of the second lap Heidfeld and Webber were in eighth and twelfth positions. The BMW engineers glued to the monitors in the pits raised the alarm: the water temperature in Heidfeld’s engine was far too high. The cause was instantly and accurately surmised – debris in one of the cooling ducts. For the time being Heidfeld had to drive with an engine management program that held its power in check. Only after the blockage was removed at his first stop was Heidfeld able to take the engine up to peak performance again. After their second pit stops, Heidfeld and Webber were firmly ensconced in sixth and seventh places. The team once again had brought new aero components for the FW27 to Hungary, which contributed to the improvement in the car’s performance.

Turkish GP

Formula One was looking forward to the new venue, and the hosts on the Bosphorus extended a warm welcome. The combination of an exciting track layout, good logistics and a bustling metropolis was a successful one. In the more than two-week break since the Hungarian GP, the FW27 had again received further modifications and both drivers substantiated the advances that had been made. Qualifying was a tumultuous occasion with numerous cars spinning off the track. Webber completed a faultless lap but was held up by Sato, who was still out on track on his in lap. Heidfeld was next in line after Webber and proved a little faster. On Sunday, he made a good getaway from sixth place on the grid. Webber was in the number seven slot on the less grippy side of the track. He ended the first lap in ninth place and then overtook Coulthard to move up into eighth. On lap five Heidfeld reported a rear tyre failure. Following his pit stop he rejoined the race at the back of the field.

On lap seven – Webber was now in sixth place – he too developed a problem with his right rear tyre and spun off the track. After his tyre change he was lapped and collided with Michael Schumacher. Cue for the next pit stop. Heidfeld was now one lap behind in 14th place and Webber two laps down in 19th. On lap 21 Webber suffered another damaged right rear tyre and parked his car in the pit garage. On lap 30 the same misfortune befell Heidfeld. The tyre incidents – four in the race and one in free practice – were due to the tyre significantly deflating and touching against the bodywork which resulted in cuts to the tyre sidewall.

Italian GP

The good placings achieved by Webber and Heidfeld in both of Friday’s free practice sessions – 2nd and 5th in the first, 5th and 6th in the second – were principally down to the improved aero efficiency of the FW27 and its curb riding ability. Despite renewed optimism, the team suffered further problems. Heidfeld, who had had an accident after a rear-wheel suspension broke during testing at Monza on 26th August, complained of a headache. On the advice of the race medics, he left the track on Saturday morning. Test and reserve driver Antonio Pizzonia stepped into the breach. He and Webber were the first two qualifiers and took 16th and 14th places on the grid. Their cars had a heavy fuel load as the team had decided on a race strategy with long first stints. Whereas Pizzonia gained two places at the start, Webber collided with Coulthard on the first corner and had to come back to the pits for a new nose cone.

Webber was subsequently trailing 52 seconds behind the leader. Before Pizzonia’s late first stop on lap 23 he was in fourth position and rejoined the race in ninth. After his second stop he had passed the two Ferraris and claimed two points for the team by finishing seventh. After his second stop Webber managed to beat Sato back out onto the track and went on to finish in 14th place.

Belgian GP

The weather in Spa lived up to its appalling reputation. The first free practice session was held on a damp track while the second was a complete washout. For the third session on Saturday morning the track was damp again, and a little less so for the fourth. By qualifying the racing line was finally dry. Webber posted the tenth-fastest lap. Pizzonia, who was standing in for Heidfeld again, came 15th. Sunday morning brought rain and chaos to the support races. The track was still wet at the start of the F1 race and the field was running on intermediates – Webber starting from ninth on the grid because Fisichella had been moved down after an engine change. Both BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers lost ground off the start line. By the end of lap two Webber was in twelfth place and Pizzonia in 14th.

During a safety car phase that began on lap eleven, the team kitted Webber and Pizzonia out with dry tyres. It was a mistake made by many teams which cost an extra stop to switch back to intermediates. On their third stop the drivers took on another fresh set of intermediates. After that Webber was in sixth position and Pizzonia in eighth. On lap 38 Webber took the risk of changing to dry-weather tyres and was subsequently the fastest driver on the track. He moved up into fourth place and took home five points. Pizzonia had come in for his tyre change a lap later, but on lap 40, while being lapped by Montoya, he collided with the Colombian, who was struggling with deteriorating intermediates.

That took both drivers out of the race. Raikkonen beat the championship leader Alonso, keeping the title decision open. Heidfeld had had an accident on his bicycle in Switzerland at the weekend, which ultimately spelt the end of the season for him.

Brazilian GP

The race at Interlagos, where the BMW WilliamsF1 Team had celebrated its sole win of the season at the 2004 final, ended in disappointment in 2005 after only a few yards. On a track that was dry despite heavy cloud cover, the two FW27 cars got caught up in a collision with Coulthard’s surging Red Bull just after the start. For Pizzonia it was curtains for his home race. Webber’s car was repaired (underbody, radiator, wheel suspension, bodywork) and returned to the race on lap 27. His engine output had been turned down to keep the power unit fresh for Suzuka, but he nevertheless achieved some very good lap times and improved his qualifying position for Japan by one place.

Webber subsequently finished in 16th place but was not classified as he had not completed the requisite distance. Webber and Pizzonia did not get beyond 14th and 15th in qualifying. It was small compensation that they moved up into eleventh and twelfth places on the grid. Alonso took

pole, and a third-placed finish behind Montoya and Raikkonen was enough for the 24-year-old to enter the history books as the youngest Formula One Champion ever.

Japanese GP

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team had undertaken two days of testing in preparation for the penultimate race of the season. The results once again  included aerodynamic modifications to the FW27. While Webber was already a Suzuka fan before the race, Pizzonia was marking his debut at the track. He benefited from the fact that, from the start of free practice, a great deal of driving was packed in as rain had been forecast for Friday afternoon. The pace of the FW27 with a full tank and on wet tyres in practice proved impressive. The track initially dried off in time for qualifying. Pizzonia was second out and driving on intermediates, which affected the car’s balance as much as an adjusted wing setting. After spinning on his out lap, he ended with a disappointing time of 1:48.898 minutes.

Webber was fourth in line and equally disappointed with the car’s handling. With a lap time of 1:47.233 minutes, he similarly fell short of expectations. The last qualifiers, including Michael Schumacher, World Champion Alonso and the two McLaren-Mercedes drivers Raikkonen and Montoya, were robbed of any chance of a decent grid place by the sudden onset of heavy rain. Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher claimed pole position at Honda’s home circuit of Suzuka. Webber was seventh on the grid and Pizzonia twelfth. In sunny weather and temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius, a very exciting GP ensued.

Pizzonia spinning off on lap ten was just one of many incidents. The progress of favourites Alonso and Raikkonen and their repeated confrontations with Michael Schumacher made for a display of the best in racing prowess. In the end, Raikkonen left the entire field in his wake to take victory. Although Webber could not keep up with the pace, he drove a very clean race and benefited from outstanding pit stops. On lap

23 the crew got him back into the race ahead of Coulthard and after 40 laps they even managed to dispatch him faster than Button, who was refuelling at the same time. After the stop, Webber was fighting hard to keep Alonso behind him but Webber was on a qualifying engine map. As soon as Webber was asked to turn the engine down, Alonso stole position causing the Australian to just miss out on a podium place with a fourth-placed finish.

Chinese GP

The longest season in Formula One history, with 19 Grands Prix, came to a close in the vast arena of the Shanghai International Circuit – and also marked the end of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team chapter. After promising long runs in free practice, qualifying turned out to be disappointing for the team. Pizzonia, who was standing in for an injured Heidfeld for the fifth time, had gone out onto the track in fourth place and complained about the dirty surface. He finished a disappointing 13th. Webber, who was 17th in line, had an outstanding run over the first two sectors before making a mistake that placed him tenth on the grid.

Webber’s performance in the first two sectors was testimony to the aero improvements brought to the car over the whole season. The final race threatened to turn into a procession, but was livened up after two incidents brought out the safety car. The first session behind the safety car had been caused by a loose drain cover in a kerb, the second by a serious accident involving Jordan driver Karthikeyan. The team utilised both neutralisation phases for refuelling stops. In the second half of the race Webber was stuck behind Barrichello for lap after lap. After finally getting past the Ferrari, he finished in seventh place to glean another two World Championship points. Had he not have been held up by the Brazilian, Webber would have certainly secured a much deserved podium finish for the team.

Pizzonia never made it into the top ten runners and limped out of the last lap with a right rear tyre failure. He had been in 13th place and was classified in that position. With his commanding win in front of 100,000 delighted Chinese spectators, World Champion Alonso managed to bring home the Constructors’ Championship for Renault as well.