director of motorsport for Mercedes-Benz Norbert Haug had approached him and threatened to shorten his career if a similar scenario occurred in the future, a claim that Dennis denied, "It was quite a while after the race when I talked to him and I was cool, calm, and collected and I was not angry. I just told him that in my opinion it was unsporting behaviour." An audio tape released to the press by McLaren on 11 June vindicated Dennis; according to transcribers he said to Bernoldi, "that was not sporting and you shouldn't carry on like that." Bernoldi told Dennis he was following orders and was not required to allow Coulthard past since the latter was on the same lap as the former. The Arrows team principal Tom Walkinshaw rejected a claim by Dennis that Bernoldi would not permit Coulthard to pass Bernoldi for television exposure. Coulthard spoke of his belief that Bernoldi was over defensive and said he would raise the issue at the next Grand Prix Drivers' Association meeting, "We agreed not to move once a driver has made his move. You make your decision – and up the hill a couple of times I was coming to get my wheels alongside him and he moved over." Bernoldi argued he was driving a routine race and was on the circuit to better his driving ability. After the race, the FIA examined several Bridgestone tyres for possible illegal wear. It discovered nothing abnormal and the result of the race was declared final. Jackie Stewart, the three-time Formula One World Champion and Jaguar team founder, praised Irvine's performance and the driver's maturity, "He practised well, he qualified well and he raced well. You couldn't ask for more. He proved himself here by driving in a very controlled way so he was ready to take advantage of opportunities and to resist any pressure from Jacques (Villeneuve) at the end." Alesi earned his first points finish since coming sixth in the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix and the Prost team's first since Trulli's second-place result at the 1999 European Grand Prix. He declared the result "a great thing" for himself and Prost and said that he predicted similar results in the future, "I totally enjoyed my race. But towards the end, when I felt the car vibrating in the tunnel, I was really worried. It was a flat tyre and I had