Italian GP Minardi race notes

Marc Gene:
"Things turned out as all of us expected them to be. At the start I found Jean Alesi's car standstill in front of me on the grid and I had to balk him. Hence, I managed to stay clear of both accidents but I struggled with the first set of tyres which made my car difficult to drive. In fact, only after the first stop I could settle into the race. I do not know, perhaps the safety car exerted an influence affecting the performance of my first set of tyres. I believe I did my best to take advantage from the opportunities of today's race."

Gaston Mazzacane:
"I guess I drove a good race. It is a bit surprising and pleasing because I expected a harder day and I was happy with the set up of my car. Unfortunately, toward the end the brakes performance was lower preventing me from keeping a consistent pace. However, the Team should be satisfied because it is a good result to have both cars at the finish, although the incidents at the start helped us a lot. With this regard I feel very sad and disappointed for what happened today. Monza is a very fast track: despite recent changes it is evident that there is a lot of work still to be done in terms of drivers' safety and not only..."

Gabriele Rumi:
"Today's race has been considerably affected by the two massive incidents, at the first and second chicanes, where a lot of cars were forced out of the game. As far as we are concerned, we believe our drivers drove a respectable race up until the end. Both cars displayed a good pace over the whole race. Clearly, we were not able to fight against the cars running behind, except for a few laps. Their maximum speed is higher with their engines having many more horse powers compared to our cars. Ultimately, we must be satisfied with these ninth and tenth positions."