I'll bounce back from all this
Autosport Driver's Column
23rd April 1998

People were surprised how annoyed I was after Argentina when I said that the only thing that could go wrong next was the plane crashing on the home. Well, it didn't, but that the only bit of luck I had. My fortnight in South America for the Brazilian and Argentinian Grands Prix was a complete waste of time. But I've got to use it as an experience, take it positively and start afresh in the European GPs, starting at Imola this weekend.

My race in Brazil was obviously ruined by my crash on the Saturday , when I went off after my throttle stuck open. My neck was damaged and in the race I had to stop with four laps to go because I couldn't hold my head up anymore over the bumps.

It wasn't a particularly fast or high impact crash, it's just that my head went a long way down - it didn't hit steering wheel, it went down between the steering wheel and my stomach. I felt a twinge down my back more than my neck directly after the crash, and then during qualifying I didn't feel any discomfort at all. But it was stiffer on Sunday morning, and the warm-up session aggravated it.

So during the race I was trying to my neck on the headrest, but even then it was so bumpy I was getting a battering. In the first part I was able to cope, but when I pitted and put new tyres on, my neck was just ripped apart with the extra grip.

Then in between Brazil and Argentina, I had physiotherapy two or three times a day. That had to be done otherwise it would have still been a mess down in Buenos Aires.

And then, of course, Argentina started terribly when my team mate Jean Alesi drove into me on our installation lap in the first session on the Friday. I can only guess that he was asleep. I was in front coming into the Senna 'S's and he missed his braking and drove straight into the side of me. The whole of the side of my car was smashed; the floor was broken and some of the electrics were knocked about. It was so annoying because we'd done no laps. If you're bit by someone it's a pain, but to he hit by your team mate is even worse.

I've accepted his apology, but what else can I do? It happened, it pissed me off but you've just got to get on with the next session. Then I had more problems and I got further and further behind. It was wet on Friday afternoon, then we had brake problems on Saturday and only managed one lap in the dry.

I took the spare for qualifying and after my first run I was q nicker than Jean, but then I had a clutch problem so I had to go back to my race car with the bad brakes. Even on my second run in the race car I went quicker than Jean, but on my last set of tyres my brakes were useless, and he popped a lap in on his last run two tenths quicker than me. I was frustrated, but happy with my performance in the circumstances.

Then I spun off in warm up - I think I was still pissed off about the episode that had gone on before, and I just wasn't concentrating as much as I should. But it was wet, so it didn't matter that much, and Jean was quickest, so it looked as if the car was good for the race. I got a good start, and I would have been relatively close to Jean when our pit strategy panned out, but then the clash with Damon topped my weekend off. I saw him afterwards and he said the normal damn things, that "the door was open", but I think he was just going too quickly to make the corner.

All this added up to make my worst fortnight ever in Formula 1, and Brazil was my worst ever day. The galling thing was I didn't make any mistakes myself. I try to be professional, and the team's got to do the same. It's not a strain on my relationship with Sauber, it's just a frustration - the team's got to do its utmost to give me the most reliable equipment it can. Otherwise we're just wasting our time.

Imola should be better; it was a Goodyear track last year, and the new tyres in Argentina seemed to be a vast improvement. I hope we do move forward and develop the car through the season, which last year we didn't. It's important that this doesn't happen again, especially from the team's point of view. But there's not actually a deep seated problem with reliability, I just seemed to get a whole catalogue of problems in South America.

But I'll bounce back. I've shown I can outpace Jean, I'm confident I can beat him and I've never been scared of anybody. And the troubles I've had over the years, at the end of the Lotus days, then at Benetton and even my accident in 1988 were good things in the long term, because so many downs just serve to make you strong.

With thanks to Johnny, Red Bull Sauber-Petronas and Autosport
This page prepared 23rd April 1998. All rights reserved.