Italian GP Prost race notes

Heinz-Harald Frentzen
"For some reasons, the track was very slippery at the start and in the first chicane. It was unlucky that Jarno Trulli spun in front of me, which forced me to take the outside line. A lot of cars drove through and I lost several positions. I had to fight hard from behind, and Bernoldi held us up for a while. Only when he went into the pits, I could attack to the race. But soon after something broke. The engine was running fine but I had no drive in the gearbox any longer. This is what put an end to my race."

Tomas Enge
"I am very happy to finish my first Formula One race ! The car was running fine, and I did not have any problem at all. I learnt a lot about all the electronic devices, the various commands on the steering wheel, traction control, engine mapping... All this was new to me but I managed to complete this Grand Prix without making any mistake. I finished 12th which is very satisfying for me. I am delighted that I had the opportunity to drive for the Prost Acer team this weekend, and that I could do a good job for them and for Luciano."

Henri Durand
"We have mixed emotions about this race. On one side, Tomas has been able to run consistently without any reliabilty problems for the first time this week-end, and we are very pleased with his performance. On the other hand, we can only be disappointed that Heinz-Harald could not show his true potential and the car's. Yesterday, we had decided to opt for hard compound tyres at the cost of sacrifying Heinz-Harald's grid position, but we believed in that option for the race. He started with a full tank and was planned to refuel vay late in the race. Unfortunately we don't know how competitive he could have been since he was caught in traffic for the majority of his race because of a poor start. Besides, shortly after the traffic had cleared, he experienced a transmission failure. Our week-end was plagued by reliabilty problems which is very uncharacteristic for us this season. We will of course analyse all the difficulties we have faced here and will approach the next two races with our usual determination."