1995 French Grand Prix
Race Report, July 02

MONTERMINI FINISHES DESPITE FIRST LAP INCIDENT

Andrea Montermini finished today's French Grand Prix 17th on the track despite having to make a long pit stop at the beginning of the race in order to have the rear suspension repaired. The performance of his Pacific-Ford PR02 has given the team a significant boost, his lap times dipping into the 1m24s bracket and the car also proving reliable.

Starting from the 11th row of the grid, the Pacific-Ford drivers were forced to brake hard in order to avoid the first corner accident involving Ukyo Katayama's Tyrrell and Taki Inoue's Footwork. Although Bertrand Gachot was able to avoid trouble, Andrea Montermini found his way blocked by the spinning Minardi of Pierluigi Martini, and the two cars touched. Andrea's car suffered damage to the left rear suspension.

He pitted at the end of the lap and was stationary in the pit lane for almost 7 laps while the mechanics replaced the upper left rear wishbone and track control arm. He then rejoined the race, making further pit stops for fuel and tyres on laps 34 and 55 respectively. He finished 17th on the road, but was unclassified due to the amount of time lost in the pit lane. Andrea previously finished 9th in the Brazilian Grand Prix, the first round of this year's World Championship.

ANDREA MONTERMINI (I) :

"At the start I wanted to be very careful and when I saw Katayama and Inoue collide I moved to the left. The problem was that Martini was spinning off on the left, and although I thought I would miss him the left rear wheel on my car just touched his Minardi. The pit stop we had to make was very long, but the mechanics did an amazing job, and from then on I just drove to finish. The car was understeering a little, but it was consistent and I really enjoyed finishing. It is a good result in terms of showing that the car's reliability has improved."

Team mate Bertrand Gachot made a good start and was up to 18th at the end of lap 1. He ran very steadily but was unfortunate to suffer a suspected mechanical problem in the gearbox. However, this will not be fully investigate until the team returns to the UK.

BERTRAND GACHOT (F) : Retired

"I was determined to drive a steady race and go for a finish. As a result I was not going over the limit, but unfortunately there was a problem after 26 laps and I pulled off the track. It is good that the other car finished, and so now we are looking forward to the team's home Grand Prix at Silverstone."