Left sitting in his EJ11

The Jordan driver suffered launch control problems in Barcelona and was just sitting in his EJ11 as the rest of the field whizzed past him in a mad dash to get to the first corner.

In Austria, however, the problem wasn't traction control related like his teammate Jarno Trulli, Mika Hakkinen and Nick Heidfeld, instead Frentzen suffered gearbox failure. But this didn't make the experience any less frightening for the German or any more amusing. As usual he is keeping his sense of humour in the situation though, commenting that the only way Monaco can be worse than the last two events is if he goes backwards on the grid!

“It starts getting a little less funny. This is the second time now within a fortnight that my car stood solid amongst a furious horde of starting cars. I was left waiting that somebody might smash my car from behind or not,” Frentzen remarked. “So far, we haven't found the final reason yet but as it looks, the gearbox broke in the crucial second. As I hardly moved an inch, I can say that this year's Austrian Grand Prix was definitely the shortest race of my career. Now it is just logic that the next race in Monaco can only become worse if my car starts in the reverse gear...”