Jean Alesi:
Today I had no luck.From my fantastic place on the starting grid I had the opportunity to finish well in the points today. I was able to stay strongly in touch with Rubens Barichello, but just before it started to rain I had to let David Coulthard by. The car and engine were going really well and after my pit stop, in which we switched to wet tyres, I was able to rejoin still in third place. Unfortunately, the track was really wet and therewas a lot of standing water. When I braked for a corner the car spun into the gravel. It was my mistake!

Pedro Diniz:
I lost a place at the start, but my car was going well and the set-up was good. I was able to pass Johnny Herbert, and was settling down when the car lost all its drive on the seventh lap and I had to pull off the track.

Peter Sauber:
It's ironic tht our fantastic starting position for Jean should be washed away in similar conditions in the race. What a pity!

Saturday

Jean Alesi:
Obviously I am feeling extremely happy! This is my 10th anniversary since I came into F1, so this is the biggest present I could have. For today, it is enough. Now I am really looking forward to a party with my team. After my accident yesterday they did a fantastic job, working all night to complete my car, so this is a present for them. To start the French GP from the front row is a dream. For sure I have my greatest chance with my best-ever starting position for my home race, and I am feeling confident for tomorrow.

Pedro Diniz:
It's a shame I didn't go out at the beginning of the session. My last run wasn't bad, because the track was improving slightly, but then I spun. 11th on the grid is not bad, but of course it could have been better. Tomorrow I will be hoping for more points.

Peter Sauber:
The front row for Jean and 11th for Pedro is a fantastic result for us. My congratulations to Jean and his engineers, for having the courage to go out first in extremely difficult track conditions.

Friday

Jean Alesi:
The accident this morning was my fault. I just went into the corner too fast, and once I had lost control of the car there was nothing more I could do to get it back. I haven't seen the television yet, but I gather it was quite spectacular. I feel a bit stiff, but otherwise I am okay.
Prior to the shunt the car felt okay, and though the lap times in general are slower than they were during testing last week, that's mainly because the circuit itself was slower today.

Pedro Diniz:
I lost half the running today because this morning my car lost fuel pressure during my first lap out of the pits. The track was a bit faster then because the temperature was lower, so this afternoon we only used one set of tyres and concentrated on doing some set-up work for the race. The balance wasn't too great and there is more work to do there, but the track also seemed very slippery all day.

Peter Sauber:
On the one hand practice for us concerned Jean's heavy accident, from which fortunately he escaped without harm. On the other hand we had a technical problem on Pedro's car early on, and we are still looking for the correct set-up for both cars.