Spanish GP BAR race notes

BARCELONA, SPAIN, May 7, 2000 - Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda came away pointless from today's Spanish Grand Prix, but encouraged by its overall performance in the course of the race weekend. After making a superb start, which saw him vault from 16th place to 11th by the first corner, Ricardo Zonta pushed very hard, particularly in the closing laps, to take the chequered flag in eighth place. Disappointingly, team mate, Jacques Villeneuve didn't make the finish. Also benefiting from an excellent start, he settled into a strong sixth place until the first of his two planned pit stops, on lap 21. Unfortunately, on his out-lap from the pits, an as yet undetermined mechanical problem left him without a working throttle, forcing him to retire from the race. RICARDO ZONTA
Position: 8th
Fastest lap: 1:26.241 Speed: 193.254 km/h
"I made a really good start and, in fact, I got away so well, I had to brake a bit to avoid hitting a group of cars in front me that included Jacques. I was able to fight a little in the first stint, but then my second set of tyres was not so good and I couldn't do much. The last set was much better and I pushed very hard to catch Salo. I was able to close the gap to him at about a second a lap, but I probably needed another lap to have a chance to pass him. Now I am going to work on improving my qualifying because if I am able to start from a better grid position, then I will have a better chance to get points in the race." JACQUES VILLENEUVE
Position: DNF
Fastest lap: 1:26.701 Speed: 194.068 km/h
"I don't know what happened. After I left the pits there was suddenly no throttle and a fire at the back of the car. It's a shame because we could have made sixth today and the car is a definite improvement on previous races. I don't feel I was holding anybody up behind me." CRAIG POLLOCK, Managing Director, British American Racing
"I'm very disappointed for Jacques but happy for Ricardo, who had an excellent race. He just went faster and faster. We don't know the cause of the problem with Jacques' car yet because the mechanics haven't a chance to investigate it fully. We're definitely going in the right direction, but we've still got to improve the reliability aspect, which I'm sure we will do." TAKEFUMI HOSAKA
Honda F1 Project Leader
Managing Director, Honda R & D,
"It was a real shame today as the weekend had been going as planned. We had secured a good position on the grid and made a good start to the race. All we know so far about Jacques' problem was that the telemetry recorded a drop in fuel pressure. We do not know at this stage whether that was the cause of the problem or the result of it. We obviously need to look into it further and do not want to speculate at this stage. Ricardo did a really good job for us today. He made a great start and drove a very strong race."