German GP Prost race notes

Jean Alesi:
"It has been a very positive week-end on the technical side and a very important one for the team since we score one more point today. The Championship is far from being over and we can still improve our position by the end of the season. Each point we gain is a step further towards the achievement of our objectives."

Luciano Burti:
"It happened so fast. A few seconds after the start, Michael (Schumacher) had a problem, but I could not see him. He slowed down in the middle of the track among all the cars in front me. When I saw him it was too late to avoid the crash. I think the accident looked worse on TV than what I experienced in my car and luckily I am not injured. I took the second start in Jean's spare car which, for my surprise, felt even better than mine. This allowed me to have a good pace. The only thing is that I had hurt my left arm somewhere in the crash, and it became very difficult to hold the steering wheel, which felt even heavier to turn. I tried to give my best but the pain was growing so much I simply could not drive any longer. I lost the car in a corner and went off. This is bad luck, but I will definitely be all right before Hungary."

Henri Durand - Technical Director :
"First we must say that the Michelin tyres worked perfectly today, and they helped a lot the handling and the consistency of our cars. Unfortunately we lost it all at the starts. The first one was indeed a terrible moment for all of us. Fortunately, Luciano was OK and the team managed to put him back on the grid for the second start. But it was a very mediocre start for both our drivers and we must analyse our data to understand the reasons for that. After the first corner was gone, the car was consistent and handling well. We chose to go for a fairly high dowforce configuration which prevented Jean from being able to overtake and most of Jean's race was a long wait behind Button. We come out of this week end with the satisfaction of one point more, but also with the disappointment of losing a position in the Championship. But there are 5 races to go and we will continue our intense effort to achieve our goal."

1Alain Prost:
"This was a week-end and a race full of strong and mixed emotions, which ended up happily with one more point. It is an important satisfaction for our team, even though the race circumstances leave us a bit frustrated. We knew we had good assets to achieve a positive result on this track and we have partly fulfilled our hopes, even if Luciano's accident and our bad starts modulate our enthusiasm. But a point is a point and it is another encouragement for our team."

-Prost