Disappointment for BAR

After their promising run in Spain, and with lead driver Jacques Villeneuve racing in front of his home crowd, hopes were high and many expected the team to score their first ever points.

Instead, both Villeneuve and his returnee team mate Ricardo Zonta crashed out in separate accidents at the final chicane.

'It was my mistake. I was simply going a little bit too fast. There was a lot dirt down on the track at that point, it was easy to make a mistake and I lost control,' admitted Villeneuve. 'I was pretty annoyed because Pedro Diniz overtook me while the safety car was out and I was pushing hard to catch him.

'It's a pity because the car was much more competitive in the race than it had been in qualifying, and it didn't get to the finish because of its driver.'

Zonta had qualified within 0.1s of Villeneuve despite having missed the last four meetings after a heavy crash at Interlagos, but the Brazilian rookie crashed out after just two laps.

'I don't know what happened. The car got sideways and I hit the wall, that was that,' he said. 'I'm obviously very disappointed, and the only consolation is that three World Champions went off today at the same place - Hill, Schumacher and Jacques - so I was in good company. '

Pollock tried to put a positive spin on the weekend despite his cars being well off the pace in qualifying and crashing out in identical accidents.

'Both team and drivers have learned a lot from this weekend,' he maintained. 'We can take some positive things away with us. We have to be philosophical, it's motor racing.'

BAR has been impressively competitive at times in its debut year, but the team's only finish to date has been Mika Salo's 8th place in Spain. Apart from Minardi, they are the only team who have yet to score points in 1999.