After closing the year 2000 with dismal results, as well as losing almost all sponsors and breaking ties with engine supplier Peugeot, for Prost Grand Prix, 2001 was shaping up to be yet another difficult, if not impossible, season. The first challenge for four-time World Champion Prost was simply to keep the team alive. Initially, things seemed fairly promising with the Diniz family acquiring a 40% stake in the French team and bringing in Parmalat sponsorship. Prost also secured support from Ferrari as an engine supplier. The agreement provided for the use of the V10 type 049, which had been mounted on Maranello’s 2000 cars, rebranded Acer 01-A for sponsorship reasons, along with the entire transmission assembly.
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| PROST AP04, Luciano Burti Montréal, Canadian GP 2001 |
The design of the new AP04 was initially entrusted to Jean-Paul Gosset’s staff, but later Prost managed to reach an agreement with Henri Durand, who was leaving McLaren where he had been in charge of aerodynamics. At Prost, Durand took on the role of Technical Director, replacing Alan Jenkins, while Jean-Paul Gosset remained Chief Designer and Loïc Bigois continued to oversee the car’s aerodynamics. The team also brought in John Walton as Sporting Director, a familiar figure in Formula 1 who had worked alongside Senna at Toleman in the early 1980s, with Briatore at Benetton, and later at Jordan before joining Prost Grand Prix. Compared to the car fielded in 2000, the AP04 was redesigned in several areas, though it still bore a significant design debt to Ferrari’s F1-2000, from which it borrowed its powerful engine. This was especially evident in the rear end, despite the car’s sleek lines, in the suspension layout (built by Prost directly based on Maranello’s 2000 systems), in the placement of the radiators (supplied by Secam, just like Ferrari’s), as well as in the design of the cockpit roll hoop, engine cover, and air intake.
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| PROST AP04, Gastòn Mazzacane Melbourne, Australian GP 2001 |
The front end, however, remained similar to the old AP03, with a slightly higher nose but still slender lines. The shape of the sidepods, also influenced by new crash-test regulations, became larger, and large triangular flow diverters appeared ahead of the air intakes. New tires were also introduced, with Prost opting for French-made Michelin instead of Bridgestone. It was precisely thanks to the performance of these new tires that the French team came up with an unusual ploy to attract more sponsors. In the early 2000s, pre-season winter testing was always an eagerly awaited event for fans and insiders alike. The race drought caused by the winter break, which a decade earlier was even longer, created strong anticipation among enthusiasts. All the more so when early test lap times produced surprising results, as happened with Prost Grand Prix. Against all odds, the AP04 became the revelation of the tests. Jean Alesi, the team’s star driver, was the fastest in Barcelona. The talented Frenchman took full advantage of the new Michelin tires and stunned the paddock, confirming his dominance at the Portuguese circuit of Estoril, where the AP04 lapped a full second faster than all rivals. But it was not true glory: the French team, in search of sponsors, was running on soft tires, with little fuel, and, in several instances, underweight.
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| PROST AP04, Jean Alesi Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian GP 2001 |
Alongside the confirmed Jean Alesi, Prost lined up at the season’s first Grand Prix with Argentine driver Gastón Mazzacane as second driver. Despite everything, the AP04 proved reasonably good and reliable, especially in Alesi’s hands, who managed to finish all of the first 12 races and even score 3 points finishes. Mazzacane, on the other hand, suffered three retirements in the first four races, prompting Prost to replace him with Brazilian Luciano Burti, recently dropped by Jaguar. After the summer, disagreements between Alesi and Prost led the French driver to leave the team for Jordan after the German Grand Prix, replacing the dismissed Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The German took over as Prost’s lead driver, but his performances were far poorer.
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| PROST AP04, Luciano Burti Montecarlo, Monaco GP 2001 |
Burti also failed to finish the season at the wheel of the AP04; after a heavy crash at Spa-Francorchamps, he was forced to miss the last four races and was replaced by Czech driver Tomáš Enge. By the end of the season, all attention was firmly on the imminent collapse of Prost Grand Prix. Alain Prost, after quarrels with Diniz and his father, was quickly running out of money. A deal with Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to become majority shareholder fell through, and Prost Grand Prix did not survive into 2002, folding with debts of around 25 million dollars. Thus ended the adventure of four-time World Champion Alain Prost as owner and manager of a Formula 1 team, with Prost Grand Prix’s final season concluding in ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 4 points, all scored by Jean Alesi.
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