Burti to Miss Final Races of the Season

Brazilian Luciano Burti will miss the last two races of the Formula One season after his crash at the Belgian Grand Prix and Czech Tomas Enge will take his place at Prost.

"After another series of medical checks, the doctors have confirmed that Luciano Burti will have to keep away from racing until at least the end of December," Prost said.

Burti added: "The reason is that the accident in Belgium was very serious, and if ever I had another trauma in my head, the consequences would be worse. Doctor (Gary) Hartstein told me I have to keep on resting until at least the end of December. Only after that date, I can think about my future and what I will do.".

Enge became the first Czech Formula One driver at Monza in Italy last weekend and will now see out the season by racing in the United States and Japan. Burti had a huge crash in the Belgian Grand Prix on September 2 when he careered into a tyre wall at an estimated 180 mph after a collision with Eddie Irvine's Jaguar.

He escaped without broken bones and has been released from hospital. "The doctors have strongly recommended me not to go back to racing this year", the Brazilian said in the team statement. Enge, who competed in the Formula 3000 championship this season and was appointed Prost's official test driver after Burti's crash, finished a solid 12th on Sunday.

Another Czech

Prost said Enge would now be replaced as test driver by another Czech, Jaroslav Janis, who would work alongside Frenchman Jonathan Cochet until the end of 2001. Janis has been racing in German Formula Three and made his F3000 debut last weekend as Enge's replacement in that series.

"Luciano took a wise decision to listen to the doctors' advice and we are very confident he will totally recover from his accident," said Prost managing director Joan Villadelprat. "We will keep on watching his progress and supporting him as much as possible in the coming months."

"As regards to Tomas' performance in Monza, we were very happy with the work he did for us. He proved to be a hard worker, enthusiastic and intelligent driver. What he has shown at the Italian Grand Prix convinced us to think that Tomas is the best possible choice to support the team's efforts in the remainder of the 2001 Championship."