Spanish GP Minardi race notes

MARC GENE'
Chassis 03
14th 1:34:04.121
"After the problems experienced yesterday and in the warm up, when the car did not feel so good, I am very pleased with my today's performance because I did not expect to be so fast. During the first part of the race I managed to keep the same pace as Benetton cars and Jaguar and I was ahead of Heidfeld. Later on we had a problem during the first stop which made us waste time. Heidfeld was, therefore, able to pass me but I could overtake him on my turn because my car was really fast on new tyres. Unfortunately, I was called again into the garage because during the first stop the fuel machine had suffered a damage which prevented it from loading fuel. Well, today's problems did not jeopardise a particularly good result but it is important to know what had happened."

GASTON MAZZACANE
Chassis 01 (T-car)
15th 1:34:34.841
"To see the chequered flag for the fourth consecutive time is pretty satisfying and I believe that this is repaying the lads, too. I am a bit disappointed because I had to contest my race in the t-car which had been set up for Marc. We only could do a few modifications on the starting grid which were not sufficient to make me feel comfortable with the car. This led me to make some mistakes which costed me dearly in terms of time. I don't agree with the 10 sec. penalty which was inflicted to me: Button was faster than me but I was waiting the right moment to let him pass without forcing me to waste more time than I had to. Now that the race is finished, I'm looking forward to the next one."

GABRIELE RUMI
"Today we had the potential to struggle with Prost, Benetton and Jaguar; unfortunately in an attempt to fight the strategy of our rivals we made a mistake during Marc's first stop and we had to repeat it: this jeopardised his race, as a result. Gastón was forced to start in the t-car which was prepared for Marc and he could do nothing but contest the race in a more than dignified way."