Jean Alesi talks to AUTOSPORT.com

On Friday the Prost was far quicker than anybody expected, but the Frenchman showed just how hard he was trying by going off the road five times in one day - losing his front wing on the last occasion.

In qualifying on Saturday he was involved in one of the most bizarre incidents in F1 history when he collided with a Marlboro sign which fell into his path as he approached the first corner.
Then in Sunday morning's warm-up the whole rear wing assembly fell off when Jean was trying the T-car.
Unlike Sauber, the French team decided to start the race.
Alesi made quick progress up the field from 15th to ninth place before retiring on lap 12.

Despite his series of misfortunes, Alesi remains bouyant about his prospects this year.
Adam Cooper talked exclusively to the Frenchman for Autosport.com.

Q: You had a pretty dramatic weekend - have you experienced anything like this before?

"It was full of emotion! But we have to keep going and believe in what we have, and I'm sure it's not too bad. Obviously our biggest problem at the moment is reliability. We cannot test enough, we cannot finish the races."

Q: What do you think about the incident with the sign?

"What I think is you cannot blame Brazil, because they really want this race. For example they made a new surface, but maybe they don't have the technology and they're not professional enough, and maybe we need to help them to organise things a bit better, because it's important to be in Brazil."

Q: Did you only have one or two seconds to realise the sign was falling down?

"No, it was quite a long time - it moved first, and then when I arrived I thought, 'You'll see, it's for my car', and it went down on me! There was no real damage."

Q: What about the wing failure?

"That was a big worry for me, because when I saw it I thought maybe we had the same problem as the Sauber, but it was not the same, and we were able to start."

Q: You left Sauber because you were fed up with problems there. Are you frustrated that things are going wrong again?

"It's not really the same. I have a very big motivation for driving for Alain, and even if the beginning of the championship is difficult, it doesn't make any problem for me. I was expecting this, but now what I'm expecting is to have very good results with him."

Q: Can you see that Alan Jenkins and John Barnard are able to solve problems and make progress?

"Actually the last test we did at Silverstone, in one day they gave me more than if I had to work one month we somebody else. The improvements we made in Brazil were especially because they worked in Silverstone. I know it will be like that for the rest of the season."

Q: There are rumours that Peugeot will quit at the end of that year - does that create uncertainty?

"I don't know, and I'm not interested in that. I know Alain will sort something out."

Q: What's going to happen at Imola?

"I don't know what I will do, but for sure it's going to be like here in Brazil. It's going to be full, because this victory of Ferrari brings people there. But I hope now McLaren will make a good result, otherwise the championship is going to be finished very soon!"

Q: So you think Michael can do it this year?

"I think so, yes."