Burti escapes Ste Devote shunt.

Luciano Burti bounced back from a monster accident in Saturday morning's free practice session to qualify for his first Monaco Grand Prix.

The Brazilian lost his brakes at the end of the start-finish straight late in the first free practice session on Saturday, ploughing down the Ste Devote escape road with little to slow him but the approaching barrier. The Prost ended up well down the road, coming close to colliding with a rescue vehicle parked away from the track itself. Fortunately, neither Burti nor any of the attending marshals was hurt in the incident, although the former Jaguar man's car was so badly damaged that he was unable to participate in the second half of the session.

"It is clear that we had a difficult day," Burti said, with some understatement, "This morning, I crashed heavily in Ste Devote, due to a problem with the brake. It destroyed my car and I lost the whole second session. Therefore in qualifying I had to run with the T-car."

Recovered sufficiently to take part in qualifying, Burti was one of the first men out, but failed initially to trouble the scorers. Once the big guns came out, the Brazilian found himself outside of the 107 per cent cut-off, but fought back to claim 21st position on the grid.

"I was trying to build up a set-up during qualifying and I improved a lot at each lap," he explained, "Unfortunately, I had traffic on the last one, and could not reach for a better position. Since we broke all the new bits on my car this morning, I will start with the old-spec aero package tomorrow. At least, the race will allow me to learn more about Monaco, and I will do my best to run a strong race."

Prost spirits were buoyed by the continuing improvement in performance shown by the AP04 in the hands of veteran Jean Alesi. Although the Frenchman had been tipped for a possible top ten position in qualifying, however, he and the team had to settle for an eventual eleventh place.

"Our position on the grid as well as the time-gaps with the frontrunners confirm we have consistently improved," revealed team boss Alain Prost, "Today, our objective was to be among the top ten, and we had achieved it until this morning with Jean. His practice sessions were flawless and it's a shame that he could not make the best of his last qualifying lap.

"Luciano's lack of experience and lack of chance have resulted in an unsatisfying position on the grid. However, his determination and drive even after his accident this morning have been remarkable, and this could pay off tomorrow, knowing that the Monaco race is always unpredictable."