Worldchampion – how much would Ralf have enjoyed fulfilling his dream. Never had it been more feasible to achieve that goal like in 2003. He got very close to winning the crown, but various reasons kept him from actually attaining it. It was a turbulent season involving every emotional feeling from the highesdt highs to the lowest lows.

2 races before the season’s end the team saw itself with a chance of winning the title, whereas Ralf had already been excluded as a title contender. Bad weather conditions at the season ending Japan GP meant that also the constructor’s title was given to another team. However, at the beginning of the season nobody had imagined that BMW-Williams was in it with a chance of winning alltogether. The team was much better than the previous year, scoring 144 points and obtaining the runner up spot, compared to the same position the previous year with merely 92 points.

People were impressed at the presentation of the FW25 on the 31st of January. It was decisively not only an evolution of the predecessor, but it was an innovative new creation alltogether. The belief in a good construction did not fade despite disappointing testing results in the winter. The BMW engine was fantastic as usual and thanks to commitment and constant development, the FW25 proved to be a winning package.

At the 7th event in Monaco the car was unbeatable. Ralf scored pole position only to see himself drop back to 4th while his team mate took the car all the way to victory. It seemed the monkey got off their backs and what followed was a string of first-class races. In Canada only his brother managed to beat him, but in Germany and France Ralf proved to be in a class of his own.

Then everything changed – from Silverstone on Ralf suffered bad luck. An additional pit stop relegated Ralf to 9th place and saw him outside the points for the first time. In Hockenheim Ralf was involved in a starting collision which also saw him being fined for it. In Hungary Ralf fought back like a lion and finished in 4th place, but his title aspirations came to an end. After a test crash in Monza Ralf was forced to sit out a race, and bad luck overseas meant that also in 2003 no title was won.