Austrian GP Tyrrell race notes

AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX [26.07.98]

AN INCIDENT-PACKED DAY

A1 Ring, Spielberg, Austria, July 26 1998 -- Hopes were high in the Tyrrell camp after morning warm-up for today's Austrian Grand Prix when Toranosuke Takagi registered the sixth fastest time of the session. Optimism turned to disappointment however, when Takagi lost control of his machine, under braking for the first turn immediately after the start of the race and collided with several other competitors. The car was too badly damaged to continue. By comparison teammate, Ricardo Rosset, started strongly, climbing seven places on the opening two laps and then made steady progress throughout the race. He was promoted to 12th place on lap 53 and remained in that position until the end of the race. A puncture on the final did not affect his finishing position.

RICARDO ROSSET (No 20) Finishing position: 12th Best lap: 1:16.100

"I made a really good start and successfully avoided the Prost that had stalled on the grid and the cars that had spun when Tora went off at the first corner. I was up to 13th by lap four and the settled down into a good race rhythm. The team did two excellent pit stops and I moved into 12th place after Verstappen's retirement. I had a big fright on the last lap when a tyre deflated without warning and took off the rear wing. I managed to drive very slowly back to the pits and was still classified 12th."

TORANOSUKE TAKAGI (No 21) Finishing position: DNF

"Olivier Panis stalled his Prost in front of me on the grid as the red lights went out and in order to get around him and avoid the other cars on the start, I moved to the right, up close to the pit wall. I then got good traction and caught up with a group of other cars, still on the inside line. Unfortunately the line was very dirty and when I hit the brakes, the back end of the car snapped away from me and I spun off the circuit. It's a shame because the car felt really good in dry weather race trim during the warm-up and I had high hopes for a good result."