The Prost AP04 was the car with which the Prost team competed in the Formula One season. It was initially driven by the experienced Jean Alesi, who was in his second year with the team, and Gastón Mazzacane, who brought valuable PSN sponsorship from Minardi after almost all the sponsors are gone, including title sponsorGauloises, putting the team into serious financial problems. Eventually, Acer became the team's new title sponsors for the season. For Prost, 2001 was a season of struggle as Alain Prost tried to keep the team going. Initially, things looked quite promising after the catastrophic season, with the Diniz family becoming shareholders and bringing Parmalat sponsorship to the team. The AP04 also used a customer 2000-spec Ferrari engine and transmission, although the former was badged as an Acer in deference to the team's title sponsor. Prost was also one of several teams to opt for the new Michelin tyres on the French company's return to the sport. Alesi set fast times in winter testing, and the car appeared to show capable speed. However, the team were mired in the midfield once the season began, fueling the speculation that the team had run an illegally fast car via running the car underweight during testing in an attempt to attract sponsors. However, the cars were much more reliable than the previous year's disastrous AP03, Alesi finishing all 12 races he had with the team. In the process he scored four precious points but fell out of favour with team principal Alain Prost and left the team for Jordan after the German GP to replace the sacked Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The German took over Alesi's role as team leader, but could not add to the points tally. A highlight of Frentzen's brief stint with the team was qualifying 4th at the Belgian Grand Prix. The team's driver problems were even more acute in the #23 car. Mazzacane was dropped after four races in favour of fellow-South American Luciano Burti, who had himself been dropped by Jaguar. Burti was quicker but also got involved in two enormous accidents which wrote off two chassis. The latter, at the Belgian GP put him out for the rest of the season. His replacement, Tomáš Enge, performed competently, but destroyed another car at the Japanese GP. By the end of the season, however, the focus was firmly on Prost's impending collapse. Prost had fallen out with Diniz and his father, and the team was running out of money. A deal with Saudi Arabian prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to become a major shareholder fell through and Prost did not survive into, folding with debts of around $25 million. Sponsors: Acer, Ferrari, Michelin, Parmalat, PanamericanSports Network, Adecco, Magneti Marelli, CATIA, Dark Dog The team eventually finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship, with four points, all scored by Alesi.
Aftermath
The cars and other assets were bought by Charles Nickerson's Phoenix Finance, which attempted to enter a team for 2002 in partnership with Tom Walkinshaw, using the in-house Arrows engines from 1998. Paul Stoddart had also tried to buy the Prost assets for his Minardi outfit, but was turned down, even though he made a much higher bid than Phoenix. The new team had Mazzacane and Tarso Marques signed up to drive and arrived for the second round in Malaysia, intending to race. However, they were barred from doing so by the FIA, as they had not bought Prost's entry or paid the mandatory bond for new teams. A bid to overturn the decision in the High Court was rejected and thus ended the Prost team's presence in Formula One.
