MAY 23, 2001

Gascoyne aware reliability improvements needed

MIKE GASCOYNE, Benetton's technical director, is aware his team needs an improvement in reliability as well as speed if they are to end their dismal run of form.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button have been forced to battle with the Minardi's this season, and after a double-retirement in Austria Gascoyne accepted that reliability is a key issue for the team.

"We need to increase car reliability after the disappointing race in Austria," Gascoyne said. "Both ourselves and Renault Sport have been working hard on this factor and are confident of a more reliable and competitive weekend in general."

Gascoyne believes that the work performed in aerodynamic testing at Danielson in France last week will help the Benetton performance in Monaco this weekend.

He added: "We did some aerodynamic evaluation work at Danielson in France, where we successfully tested several new aerodynamic parts that will be incorporated on to the car for the Monaco race.

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