1999: Switch to Williams

For the 1999 season Ralf switched from Jordan to the Williams Team. He drove next to the double CART-Champion and former F1 driver Alessandro Zanardi from Italy. In 1999 Williams had to settle for the old Renault engines, which were revised by the French company Supertec. The start of the season was very strong when Ralf, despite of an old engine, finished in 3rd place behind Irvine and Frentzen. In 2000 BMW entered a partnership with Williams.

2000: New Partner BMW

With new BMW V10 engine and an all improved chassis for the 4th season: The FW22 gave Ralf a successful year. 5th in the drivers championship and 3rd in the constructors championship exceeded the expectations. 3 3rd place finishes (Melbourne, Spa and Monza) but also 6 DNF’s were the highs and lows of the Millennium Season. One scary moment worried his fans when he crashed into the barrier and injured his leg. However, without major issues he was back in action at the next GP.

Ralf looks confidently into the future: The advantage of the Top Teams Ferrari and McLaren shall be minimized. Experts consider Ralf a World Champion in the making. Maybe his new team mate Juan Pablo Montoya, who came to replace Jenson Button at Williams, can motivate and push him to his top performance.

2001: First GP Victory

In 2001 Ralf went into the season with an all new engine, the P80, a new chassis, the FW23, a new team mate and a new tyre partner, Michelin. A potentially good package to upset the leaders of the pack Ferrari and McLaren. At the beginning of the season we saw Ralf being taken out of the races and thus he could not fight for victories. For the Imola race Ralf and Juan Pablo had a new writing on their rear wings saying: “Keep your distance!”. Law and behold the streak of accidents came to an end with a vengance.

In 70th Grand Prix it finally happened: Ralf recorded his first Grand Prix victory and stepped out of the shadow of his older brother Michael. On the 15th of April in Imola, Ralf out dragged both McLarens at the start and kept the lead until the end. It was a great performance. In his most seccussful season to date he also won in Montreal and in Hockenheim. In Magny Cours then he gave himself the best gift for his 26th birthday: the first pole position in the partnership with BMW WilliamsF1. He beat his brother by one hundreth of a second. He also posted 5 lap records in that season, but had to suffer 3 DNF’s in Spain, Austria and Monaco.

Spa was a very perculiar race for Ralf when the cars left the grid to go on their 3rd (!) installation lap. He remained high jacked in his car on the outside of the front row while the entire field passed him. Ralf was stuck in that embarassing position, because the team didn’t make it in time to change the rear wing. After everything Ralf finished the race in 7th position.

The second half of the season was all in all not very good for Ralf. He admits that not always did he make the best of his chances, and in the same breath he declares a fight for 2002. “The team is ready to fight at the top, now it is down to us to apply it on track.”