Formula 1: Alesi peeved at being pipped to the points

Jean Alesi was disappointed to have missed out on a points finish for Prost at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The French veteran racer admitted that the rain at Interlagos scuppered his bid for a top-six finish

He said: "In this type of race, with so many incidents, you can never let go until the end, which is what I did.

"Unfortunately, even though I took advantage of the rain when it started, my car became more and more difficult to drive, and I could not stop the two cars behind me overtaking during the last laps.

"It is a pity that we could not make use of this opportunity but we continue to believe in ourselves. We are already focusing our efforts on the next race."

His Prost team-mate Gaston Mazzacane cursed his luck after an engine problem forced him out on lap 56.

He said: "Unfortunately this was another unlucky race for me. It is even more sad that we had a great strategy taking into account the chance of rain.

"My car was going well, even though I found it difficult to manage the brake system.

"I continued to drive a good race until my clutch failed which forced me to retire.

"I really wanted to finish this physically and mentally demanding race. I feel very sorry for the team who works so hard and have such a positive outlook."

Team boss Alain Prost added: "There were lots of positive aspects and improvements this weekend, but we are still missing important elements to be able to make the best of such opportunities as today.

"For example the problem we had with the refuelling machine prolongued Jean's stop which cost him the possibility of scoring a point.

"We have to be more concentrated during the weekend to avoid such difficulties throughout the Grand Prix. However the car proved to be competitive several times during the race.

"We are going in the right direction and we still have some progress to make in order to finish in the points in the near future."