FEBRUARY 14, 2001

Prost run well again in Estoril

JEAN ALESI put the Prost team on top of the times in the eighth day of testing at the Portuguese circuit of Estoril on Wednesday.

The Italian followed up team test-driver Pedro de la Rosa's fastest time of Tuesday's test by putting the new AP04 on top of the time sheets once again.

Benetton's Jenson Button was over a second adrift of the Italian, but the team's technical director Mike Gascoyne was impressed by the test in the wake of rumors that the chassis has some major design faults.

"It's been satisfying today as we got a good long run in again on the new car and got a further engine up to mileage.

"Each time we have done this we have made good progress with the chassis and our times reflect this."

Wednesday's testing times from Estoril:

POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME 1  Jean Alesi Prost 1:18.929 2  Jenson Button Benetton 1:20.159 3  Gaston Mazzacane Prost 1:20.700