Australian GP Friday Prost notes

The first day of practice at the Albert Park circuit didn't go as the Prost team had hoped with both drivers finishing the second free session at the bottom of the timesheets.

"Clearly, this is not the kind of first day of the Championship to give us any pleasure as one can see in our performances," said Jean Alesi who finished in 21st position with a 1:35.613 after completing 18 laps. "But you have to start somewhere and it is our job now to work very hard to solve the problems we have found in order to finish our preparations. We have to find the right way to work with the car and then we can quickly find our true level."

Nick Heidfeld didn't fare any better, slotting in behind his teammate in last spot with a 1:35.977 after 23 laps. "I started this day with a lot of optimism and without too much pressure," he said. "Unfortunately this morning we had a slight braking problem and then I went off after I had done only seven laps. This afternoon we made several set-up modifications, which gave us an appreciable improvement, but the car remained very unstable, caused by the nervous back end."

"Obviously it is difficult to arrive at the first Grand Prix and to be punished for our lack of preparation," added a disappointed Alain Prost. "As we expected, this opening day of practice has been, for us, a first true test of the car. We have launched into work on the points we had not been able to deal with before. This session was interrupted by a series of little problems that prevented us from completing a full program of work. But in any case, we have to wait until tomorrow to see the competitiveness of our car."