Belgian GP Prost Saturday notes

Heinz-Harald Frentzen
"I am so happy for the team and for myself. To be honest I am really surprised that we could set such a good result here, on such a difficult track. After the difficulties we had in Hungary, we made some important changes in order to improve the balance of the car, and what we achieved today confirms that the potential is here. Today, as the track was improving quickly towards the end of qualifying, we took the risk to go for slick tyres in the last run and it paid off. We just made the right decision in the right moment and we are very happy. This grid position is already a reward for our hard work and I will give everything in tomorrow's race, even though we know it might be a challenging and difficult Grand Prix for us."

Luciano Burti
"The fact that we had only one timed session this morning, due to the thick fog on the circuit, did not help us, since I had almost no running yesterday. The car was feeling quite good in practice, but after some showers fell at the start of the qualifying session, we knew the track would be improving constantly and that the best times would be set by the last drivers who would cross the finish line at the end of the session. We also opted for slick tyres for the last run, which was clearly the best strategy. Unfortunately a mistake was made in my tyre pressure adjustment and it cost me 30 seconds more in the box. This prevented me from completing a second fast lap before the end of the session, which would have considerably changed my final position, as Heinz-Harald's improvement in the very last lap shows. We lost out this opportunity because our timing was just wrong."

Alain Prost
"We are delighted with this result for both Heinz-Harald and our team. We have achieved our best grid position so far this season. We were clearly hoping to set a good result on this track but it even goes beyond our expectations. Our car usually behaves even better in the race than in qualifying, therefore we can realistically hope for a good result in tomorrow's race. This grid position shows how much Heinz-Harald's experience, calm and commitment can bring to our team. I do hope that Luciano, who has been particularly unlucky recently, will benefit from the whole team's renewed motivation. Congratulations to all the team for the great work done."

Chassis
Frentzen: AP04-06
Burti: AP04-04
Spare (Burti): AP04-02