By Phil
May 26 2002

Giancarlo Fisichella scored a further two world championship points during a brilliant drive in the Monaco Grand Prix, despite seeing team mate Takuma Sato crash out on lap 23 after hitting the wall of the famed street circuit's unique tunnel.

Takuma:
"It was an exciting race and I made a really good start, overtaking a couple of cars at the first corner and then I was immediately behind Giancarlo," he said. "I was able to overtake him as he seemed to get held up by something, maybe passing other cars. But at the time Giancarlo was slightly quicker than me and because I was ahead of him, the team asked me to let him through.  I was trying to let him go past, but unfortunately it was at the exit of the tunnel and while I was trying to make space for him, I picked up dust, slid and lost control of the car.  It is a big disappointment but has been good experience for me and I would like to congratulate Giancarlo for scoring points. Brilliant"

Giancarlo:
"It’s a great result for me and the team.  I expected do well here as I am confident on this circuit, especially when the car is going well.  When I made my pit stop, the car was feeling good and the tyre grip was much better than in qualifying.  I was quick and catching Trulli but it was too late to take the risk of overtaking him and possibly losing my position.  A few weeks ago it was difficult to imagine that these last two results would be possible.  I’m hoping at the next race, with an improved engine, we will be more competitive. "

Eddie Jordan:
"This is the second race in a row that’s we’ve been in the points and while it was encouraging to be fighting with Renault again, it’s important to remember we still have a long way to go. We hope Honda will have an upgrade on the engine for Canada and we have a few other things to try, so hopefully we can make further improvements. The Bridgestone race tyres were excellent again today and we’ve worked hard on the EJ12 reliability and it is beginning to deliver reward"

The result should go someway to convincing Honda that Jordan are the team they need to stick with for next year.  BAR are clearly struggling with performance and technical gremlins which keep them from scoring points.  Jacques Villeneuve's car stalled on the grid and had to be started by the pit crew.