PROST AP03 Peugeot

   The good season just ended slightly cheers up Alain Prost, now convinced that he has found the right path to be able to aim to fight with the best cars of the lot. In preparation for the 2000 season, Prost decides to make some changes within his team with the aim of further strengthening the technical staff as well as the workforce, which is increased to around 250 units. During the weekend of the 1999 French Grand Prix, the arrival of Alan Jenkins, former designer of Stewart, as Technical Director was announced, replacing Bernard Dudot. Jenkins and Prost had already worked together at McLaren in the mid-80s, when the French driver won his first two world titles and Jenkins held the role of Senior Engineer. They are joined as the new Sporting Director by John Walton, who is leaving Arrows and against whom he is in an ongoing legal dispute. Loïc Bigois was confirmed instead, taking Ben Wood's place as head of aerodynamics for the single-seater, and was also able to benefit from greater funds for wind tunnel testing, while the young French engineer Jean-Paul Gousset was hired for his previous role as Chief Designer, working under the direction of John Barnard, who was still officially classified as an external consultant to the team.

PROST AP03, Jean Alesi
Catalunya-Barcelona, Spanish GP 2000

   The new single-seater that comes out of the Prost Grand Prix workshops located in Guyancourt, a suburb about 20km from Paris, is called AP03 and is the fourth car built by the French team since former World Champion Alain Prost took over the Ligier team in 1997. At first glance, the new single-seater immediately shows a return to the past, with the sides losing the characteristic rounded angle seen on the AP02 and the nose returning to being slightly more squared and arched. The engine cover is no longer completely straight but has the upper part parallel to the ground and then slopes towards the rear. The fins in front of the rear wheels have also been revised to divert the flows and the exhausts are now of the top-exiting type, that is, with the exhaust gas outlet facing upwards to create a flow of hot air towards the rear wing.

PROST AP03, Jean Alesi
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 2000

   Under the skin, the new AP03 changes very little, with a new, slightly stiffer chassis and the classic double wishbone suspension in push-rod configuration. The engine is still a Peugeot V10 evolved to the A20 specification but, according to the drivers and technicians at Prost, it remains the car's weak point with poor reliability and significantly lower power than the competition, even if Peugeot itself declares a maximum power on the bench of 800hp at 16,200 rpm. Paired with the Peugeot V10 is always the same X-Trac-derived gearbox but modified by Prost technicians, a six-speed sequential semi-automatic, which also causes many problems due to its fragility. On the drivers front, after the departures of Panis and Trulli, Prost was forced to look to the market to find a young driver to pair with a more experienced driver and found them in Nick Heidfeld, fresh winner of the European Formula 3000 Championship, and Jean Alesi, a driver at the end of his career but very experienced as well as a friend of Alain Prost with whom he teamed up at Ferrari in 1991. From the first outings in pre-season testing, the new AP03 proved to be a real disaster, with Heidfeld absolutely unable to find a driving feel with the car and both drivers complaining about inconsistent handling as well as a lack of traction.

PROST AP03, Nick Heidfeld
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 2000

   The car also proved difficult to find the right compromise between rigidity and driveability as well as having a chronic difficulty in accepting changes to the set-up. The start of the season was a real disaster with an endless series of retirements and Technical Director Alan Jenkins was fired after the Monaco race. Prost attributed the engine, which according to the French manager was fragile and underpowered, as the main cause of the AP03's uncompetitive performance. Prost's criticism of Peugeot exacerbated their relationship and, combined with the lack of results, the lion company decided during the season to withdraw from Formula 1 as an engine supplier. Of the cars produced by the French company, the AP03 was the one that obtained the most negative results, as neither driver ever managed to reach the points zone, even though Alesi managed to qualify eighth in Monaco and climb up to fourth place in Spa-Francorchamps before retiring. The cars were forced to retire 22 times, in most cases due to mechanical failures. Alesi, in particular, identifies the causes of the lack of competitiveness, in addition to the Peugeot A20 engine, in the poor organization of the team and in the lack of continuous tests for the development of the single-seater. Eloquent during the French Grand Prix a pit-stop that went badly and was filmed by TV cameras, with a visibly shocked Alain Prost shaking his head in despair.

PROST AP03, Jean Alesi
A1 Ring, Austrian GP 2000

   For the first time in its history, the French team did not score any points in the standings and finished the championship in last place, also losing the battle with the small Minardi team for 10th place in the standings. The best result remained Heidfeld's eighth place, achieved in Monaco GP, but the lack of results also led to the breakdown of the relationship with most of the sponsors who abandoned the team at the end of the season. The poor result obtained in 2000 also meant that the team would not receive any prize money for the following season and this, combined with the loss of the sponsors, caused the team to sink into serious financial difficulties that would mark the beginning of the end for Prost Gran Prix.