In February 1997, former world champion Alain Prost and Peugeot president Jacques Calvet announced the formation of Prost Grand Prix.

The successor to the famous Ligier outfit, the Prost team would carry out the formers’ existing contracts and ran Mugen-Honda engines. This would intended as a stop-gap  before switching to Peugeot for the 1998 campaign.

The team’s French connections were increased via French tobacco brand Gauloises as the team’s title sponsor and technical partners Elf.

Prost would receive further backing from Bridgestone, French TV Channel Canal+, telecoms company Alcatel and Bic.

A solid start

Alain Prost signed Olivier Panis and Shinji Nakano for the 1997 season and used the Prost JS45, which was designed by Loïc Bigois.

At the start of the season, Panis emerged as a surprise contender for the Drivers’ title, with podium finishes in Brazil and Spain respectively. In addition, he could’ve won the latter if he hadn’t been held up by backmarkers.

The Frenchman was also in contention for victory in Argentina, but retired due to an electrical issue. Prost was impressed with his compatriot’s performance and gave him a contract until 1999.

As the paddock moved to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, Panis was third in the Drivers’ Championship on 15 points, behind Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher.

However, Prost’s fortunes would quickly turn for the worse when Panis crashed heavily at Turn 5, caused by a rear-suspension failure.

The tyre barrier placed at this corner was ineffective, and saw the car go underneath it and hit the concrete wall head on. Subsequently, Panis suffered a closed double fracture in both of his legs in the tibia and fibula.

This left Alain Prost in a difficult position, as he needed to fill the empty seat yet didn’t have an obvious replacement available.

Their test driver Emmanuel Collard was initially linked with a drive earlier in the season to replace Nakano. But despite a lot of mileage in F1 machinery through testing, Prost wanted someone with Grand Prix experience.

Martin Brundle was also in contention, as the Brit was still active having competed in the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans with Nissan.

In the end, Prost signed Minardi’s Jarno Trulli and the Italian had some good spells in the car, taking fourth in the German Grand Prix.

Trulli then went on to lead the Austrian Grand Prix later that year, and was on course for an impressive second place. Unfortunately, his Mugen-Honda engine blew up in spectacular fashion.

Three months after his horrific crash, Olivier Panis returned to the team for the Luxembourg Grand Prix, held at the Nürburgring in Germany.

The one-time Grand Prix winner returned quickly thanks to successful surgery, in which pins were inserted into his legs. In his comeback race, Panis scored a point for his sixth-place finish, which helped Prost to sixth in the Constructors’ Standings on 21 points.

One step forward, two step backwards

For 1998, Alain Prost had reasons to be optimistic.

The team had signed Jarno Trulli on a permanent basis alongside Olivier Panis to replace Shinji Nakano. Elsewhere, Peugeot had introduced a revolutionary all carbon fibre gearbox for its V10 engine.

Prost also saw new sponsors arrive in the form of French lubricants Total, PlayStation and imaging and IT company AGFA.

Speaking at the team’s 1998 launch, Alain Prost outlined the team’s goals of the season:

“What is important is the objective is to be in between the top team as quick as possible, and the objective is to be there already this year.”

Prost had an early scare as the chassis for the Prost AP01 failed the mandatory FIA crash test three times before it was given clearance to race. As the season wore on, it became clear that the car was nowhere near their highly set targets.

The Peugeot engine proved to be heavy and unreliable, meaning Panis and Trulli failed to finish many races. Moreover, the engine’s weight issues upset the car’s balance and consequently left the designers unable to optimise the position of the ballast.

On top of this, Prost were in the process of moving their headquarters to Guyancourt in the western suburbs of Paris.

Unsurprisingly, Prost were unable to fight for points on a regular basis, with the team’s only point of the season scored in the dramatic 1998 Belgian Grand Prix.

Panis returns, but form eludes them

For the 1999 season, Loïc Bigois was joined in the design department by John Barnard and Alan Jenkins and produced the Prost AP02.

Olivier Panis had the pins removed from his legs which gave the Frenchman a positive outlook for the forthcoming season:

“For me this a very important season, because now I have completely new legs, new car. Maybe it’ll be quite good.”

1999 resulted in minimal improvements for the French team, with Panis scoring two points for a pair of sixth places in Brazil and Germany respectively. Trulli claimed second in the 1999 European Grand Prix behind the Stewart of Johnny Herbert.

At the turn of the new millennium, Jarno Trulli left Prost to join Heinz-Harald Frentzen at Jordan, whilst Olivier Panis joined McLaren as their test driver. To replace them, Alain Prost signed veteran Grand Prix driver Jean Alesi, who was partnered with the 1999 Formula 3000 champion Nick Heidfeld.

Speaking with Motorsport Magazine in January 2017, Alesi discussed his time with the Prost team:

“I wanted to finish my career with Alain and give France a successful team – like Ligier had been,” Alesi stated.

“When I signed I was extremely happy and excited, but with Peugeot engines there was no chance. That was disappointing.”

Nothing left to show

On the racetrack, Prost continued to struggle.

Alesi had done well to qualify seventh in Monaco before he retired with a transmission failure. The Frenchman was also fourth in Belgium, before his car halted to a stop with a fuel pressure issues.

Further troubles struck in Austria, as Alesi and Heidfeld collided into each other at Turn 1. Behind the scenes, the relationship between the team and engine suppliers Peugeot was souring by the second.

Alain Prost had stated that the engine’s teething problems was the cause of their uncompetitive form, whilst Peugeot retaliated and said that their engine was producing 792 bhp – a competitive figure for the time.

Furthermore, Prost was now paying for the engines, after being previously told that Peugeot would provide them for free.

Speaking to ITV’s James Allen during the 2000 French Grand Prix, Prost gave an insight into the team’s situation:

“There is a huge support from the fans, obviously from France, but it’s not good to be in France with a French team, engine manufacturer,” Prost said.

“It’s becoming too difficult, too political and it makes things even more difficult than it should be, so that’s what I mean by a lack of support.”

Things didn’t improve, and at the end of the season, Prost were classified bottom of the Constructors’ Championship with no points. This cued a mass exodus of partners and sponsors.

Firstly, Peugeot quit Formula One to focus on their effort in the FIA World Rally Championship. Gauloises then pulled the plug, after providing Prost with an estimated $21.82million for the year 2000.

“The benefits of the partnership with Prost Grand Prix do not justify the constant rising investment required by this type of sponsorship,” Gauloises said in a statement.

Total, Yahoo!, PlayStation, AGFA and Bic all exited and left a gaping hole in their budget for 2001.

A team staking on thin ice

Prost managed to negotiate a three-year deal for the Ferrari engines that badged under the computer brand Acer. The duration of the contract worth approximately $90million, according to reports.

The recently retired Pedro Diniz became an unlikely lifeline for the team, and paid part of the lease for the Ferrari engine in exchange for ownership of the team.

Diniz and his family also bought Parmalat backing to the team, with recruitment agency Adecco also joining as sponsors.

To the surprise of many, Jean Alesi stayed on with Prost in 2001. Alongside him was Argentine Gastón Mazzacane, who bought sponsorship to the team in the form of the Pan-American Sports Network (PSN).

The Prost AP04 was designed by John Barnard and Henri Durand and saw the team switch to Michelin tyres. Alesi managed used his experience to score four points, with a best finish of fifth in Canada.

After Germany, Jean Alesi quit the team and was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had been sacked by Jordan. In the second car, things weren’t any better.

After four races, Mazzacane was sacked and had his seat filled by Luciano Burti who didn’t fare much better.

The Brazilian suffered two huge incidents, firstly at the start of the German Grand Prix after crashing into the back of a slow-moving Michael Schumacher. Burti then tangled with Jaguar’s Eddie Irvine at Blanchimont during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Formula 3000 driver Tomáš Enge was drafted in for the final three races of the season but failed to make an impact.

Midway through 2001, the Diniz family offered to buy the Prost team, but Alain was unable to agree on a compromise.

And although Prost claimed ninth in the Constructors’ Standings and had made their formal application for the 2002 Formula One season, the team went bankrupt with debts exceeding £25million.

After 83 Grand Prix across five seasons, Prost Grand Prix secured three podiums and scored 35 championship points.