APRIL 12, 1999

Sarrazin's smashing F1 debut

PROST GRAND PRIX's test driver Stephane Sarrazin was Luca Badoer's replacement at Minardi for last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

PROST GRAND PRIX's test driver Stephane Sarrazin was Luca Badoer's replacement at Minardi for last weekend's BrazilianÊGrandÊPrix. It was decided that Badoer would not be able to race following a testing accident at Fiorano which left him with a fractured right hand.

Prost agreed to the deal to give Sarrazin some racing mileage and the 24-year-old Frenchman did an impressive job at Interlagos, which is one of the most difficult circuits on the F1 calendar. He qualified 18th, six-tenths of a second quicker than Marc Gene. In the race he was very fortunate to emerge unscathed from an enormous accident when a front wing adjustment device broke and he hit the wall at 170mph, a crash which tossed the Minardi into seven spins. Remarkably, the chassis of the car was not written off...