BAR look for Monaco points

"Our recent tests, including Nogaro last week, have been very productive and we believe the gearbox issue that caused us a problem earlier in the year has now been solved," claimed Steve Farrell, the team's chief engineer.

"On that basis, we go into the Monaco weekend optimistic that a points-scoring finish is within our grasp," he added.

"We've had a run of bad luck recently and hopefully things will turn around for us this coming weekend," concurred driver Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian has had some promising qualifying and race performances this year, but has not scored a point since Imola.

He agreed with Farrell that the recent test had helped the team move forward, but admitted that the real test will start with the first practice session tomorrow.

"The test last week at Nogaro was useful because the circuit is short and quite bumpy, and therefore a bit like Monaco," said the 1997 World Champion.

"We were able to work on chassis set-ups and made some good progress, but we won't really know where we stand until we start running on Thursday. It would be a great reward for all the hard work everyone has been putting in to get a good finish on Sunday - preferably on the podium."

Villeneuve's Monaco record is not a good one, as the Canadian always seems to struggle on the tight track - and Ricardo Zonta is a Monaco rookie. However, Villeneuve managed to qualify the BAR 01 eighth last year, and a points finish is not out of the question, but Williams and Jordan are still ahead in the pack chasing McLaren and Ferrari.