BROKEN PROMISES AND BROKEN DREAMS! The Demise of the Prost GP Team (1997-2001)

There's a few pictures out there that show the Prost car, I think from 1999, where it looks absolutely glorious in that metallic blue. but at the same time, a good looking car doesn't usually equate to a good performing one. Notable exceptions being the Lotus 49, Williams FW18 and the McLaren MP4/23. Although that's just a sample and not every single one.
So when Alain Prost arrived on the grid with the remnants of the Ligier Team, people thought that having two ex champions on the grid with their own teams would be amazing, and would Alain be able to be a champion as a driver and a team boss like Jack Brabham had been, albeit at separate times?
But a mix of politics, bad timing and other things led to a flash in the pan for the Professor, as after the mid point of 1997, it all went wrong. Sacre Bleu!
Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!
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[@AidanMillward]

22 million. I may have misplaced a comma and a decimal point. 😬

[@simontravers2715]

Red instead of Ret for Nakano too (Katayama deserved that Prost over Minardi)

[@Kam1Kaz3NL77]

not counting for inflation, that's still a lot of money

[@sennadesillva]

We all make small mistakes while working, just most of ours aren't on camera for the whole world to see for the rest of time lol. Don't be so hard on yourself. We all love the work you do for these videos and for those who don't.....well F 'em. Let them go try to find content this awesome else where. :)

[@damarfadlan9251]

​@@simontravers2715same to Esteban Tuero.

[@thembanjoko2844]

Prost described his partnership with Peugeot as "The worst years of my life."

[@JohnSmithShields]

The lion definitely not going from strength to strength.

[@Box1-lf9hv]

​@@JohnSmithShieldsBut it goes strength to strength in other motorsports such as WRC at the time.

[@tedarmavan]

McLaren-Peugeot was worse. Engine blow up just after lights go out at Silverstone 1994 was the peak shittiness of that relationship. Enough is enough, Woking squad went to form an alliance with iLmor Mercedes in 1995.

[@davesiddons8921]

Having owned a Peugeot I can 100% agree with him

[@OnionChoppingNinja]

"worst time of my life" sums up the average Peugeot experience pretty well.

[@F-Man]

Real talk: The last Prost GP car, the AP04, was low key one of the best looking F1 cars of the era.

[@hallo_welt_ag]

Nah Mate, the Red Bargeboard ruins it. But the JS45 was a Beauty

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

Myself personally I do love the AP02 livery

[@JohnSmithShields]

All the Prost cars looked pretty good.

[@crystalracing4794]

A shame they ran out of money. A real good car

[@6lemans10]

It was a sexy looking car.😎

[@laurenmp7486]

The shade of blue the Prost cars were painted in, is such a beautiful shade of blue. Also I remember a picture from back in 97 or 98 of a Prost just as the engine expired and it was this like 10 foot (3 meters) flame shooting out the back. The old F1 engines could fail is truly spectacular fashion.

[@AidanMillward]

96. Diniz at Argentina. The UK sports media had the back pages of the newspapers splattered with that picture and the caption “Diniz in the oven”

[@solitaryclusterofneurons598]

I wonder what changed leading to such visually spectacular engine failures kinda fizzling out in the mid/late-00s??

[@laurenmp7486]

@@solitaryclusterofneurons598 I think it's just that they figured out how to make them reliable.

[@owensnicholas]

Prost was around for my introduction to F1 in 1999. I was a fan, if only because of that beautiful blue color.

[@S777DJT]

You’ve nailed this! Something in me has been saying for many moons now “I wish someone would talk about how Ligier and Panis were (from late ‘95 at least) getting better into ‘96 and the hope was that ‘97 onwards - being Prost would further better this statistic - sadly not of course…” I hope you can do a video on Panis and show that he was on the rise up until Canada and what might of been.. That would be greatly received and appreciated Oh, one small foot note - I applied for a job at Prost back in ‘97 (didn’t get the job) :D Thank you

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Prost was well and truly shafted, though I do think he sometimes was his own worst enemy. Chirac should have done more to support him, if only moral support, especially as it was supposed to be a French team. I felt really sorry for him and the team. You always got the feeling that they should be doing so much better. Very interesting history, Aidan. Keep on with the stories!

[@zanemarte9877]

I have listened to that story on Prost's Beyond The Grid podcast and I have seen multiple videos about Prost Grand Prix and what went wrong there. I've said it on multiple comment threads and I'll say it again here. Prost should have NEVER gone with the idea of dumping the Honda engines the former Ligier had and sign with Peugeot for its engine manufacturer just for the sake of trying to build a pure french team. That was the ultimate reason why Prost failed as a team owner. He even said it himself on Beyond The Grid "Peugeot wanted to quit Formula 1 after the deal with Jordan ended... 2 days before I signed the contract, I told the French President I don't want to do it anymore because this is not what I thought but then he told me 'if you do it we will help you at a later date' but that never happened." And of course we all know what happened next after that. On another note Despite the fact that I hate Prost for going with Peugeot just for the sake of building a pure french team I love the paint jobs the Prost cars had. I even have the 1/18 diecast of the 1999 car with Jarno Trulli, the 2000 car with Jean Alesi, and a 1/43 diecast of the 1998 car with Olivier Panis.

[@bakayarou023]

The Prost PS04 is one of my favourite looking cars of all time, chassis wise.

[@artmchugh5644]

Every time I see Flavio I go back to top gear , BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE!!!!! JESUS CHRISTA !!!---!!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂👍👍🚘🚘🚘🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@JohnSmithShields]

A proper rogues gallery that episode. Flavio, enough said. Bernie, definitely everything he did was above board. Horner. I'll say nothing.

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

Top gear at its finest

[@Hesitatedeye]

"Listen very carefully, I shall say zis only once zer is no more money."

[@AidanMillward]

There was a gateau in ze chateau

[@JohnSmithShields]

I was p1ssing by the door.

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

'Ze fallen madonna vith the big boobies!'

[@LuminalSpoon]

You are holding the smoking goon

[@Tacko14]

I feel Alain was a bit naive there, in taking over Ligier. He was Le Professeur in the car, but nowhere near the politician he needed to be. But he múst have known that Ligier floated on support he wouldn’t get. Should have known, anyway. He was chums with Balestre, sure, but that alone would never carry him. Clutching at the one straw don’t do it. I remember supporting Ligier at one time. Support or no, they were an underdog, like Sauber. Any point they scored, I quietly cheered.

[@Andre_The_Millennial]

Better to try and fail than to regret never trying at all.

[@Tacko14]

@@Andre_The_Millennialtrue, that. And I do admire him for it. Same as my soft spot for Simtek or Caterham. They tried their utmost

[@zanemarte9877]

You're right. Prost said that himself on his Beyond The Grid podcast. He also wanted to do it as part of a dream he had after that ugly fight for the 1989 world championship with his bitter rival teammate Senna, and we all know how that went.

[@sugarnads]

Ligier were perennial front runners.

[@Durbanite2010]

A very accurate video, from my understanding of the situation. Everything, including Alain Prost, worked against Prost. (ETA: You could add the Ferrari 641 and McLaren MP4/4 to the good-looking cars that were also quick!

[@polycube868]

At this point, we got Roberto Moreno, maybe the next goal point is a Flavio Briatore story time.

[@JohnSmithShields]

Cheat, should be nowhere near F1. Episode done.

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

A Tom Walkinshaw story would feed families too lol

[@gustavomarques4097]

Flavio should come back to Alpine and put them back on track. Enstone can't do anything without him, apparently.

[@polycube868]

It would seem, he might be a seedy individual but he brought the team 2 championships when they were Benetton and 2 more as Renault.

[@rogerwright2512]

I’m really enjoying your videos (old school) and have for a few years now, I’m amazed you are able to put them out so fast at the moment, you are looking well and I hope all is good but don’t be afraid to take some time off, you have more than earned it 🏎️💨💨💨👍👍

[@JackRoadkill]

Woah, what happened to "....and goodbye?!"

[@yudhabagaskara98]

imagine an used ferrari engine badged as Acer. that's equivalent to current ferrari engine badged as Hewlett Packard

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

So the current Ferrari team (haha had to make the joke there)

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

It got so bad for Prost at the end, I think Craig Pollock might have done a better job...

[@anthonyhastings5961]

Great video Aiden. I'm sure that I read in the F1 magazine back in the day (late 90s) that one of Prost's challenges with his team was that they had a strict working week akin to normal people (I seem to remember 39 hours) and so their key staff weren't allowed to pull all nighters like other teams did at the time.

[@6lemans10]

France has very strict regulations in terms of worker's rights.

[@djvycious]

Congratulations on 100k Aidan!

[@tylerstoltzfus3456]

Jack Brabham would still be the first person to win a title as a driver as well as a title with his own car not as a driver. Denny Hulme won the 1967 driver's title in a Brabham. Sir Jack was driving that year, he just didn't win the championship

[@toniovodka1]

I always liked Prost as a team, their cars looked different to rest, like they were trying something different and i liked it as i child

[@JohnSmithShields]

Panis, won Monaco, next best achievement, beating a Morris Minor in an ice race.

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

Wasn’t Prost son also in that ice race haha

[@JohnSmithShields]

​@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 I don't know, I only remember Mr Penis.

[@mrgobrien]

i'm fairly certain that prost were still ligier when panis won monaco in 1996.

[@TheVeyron623]

It was a Morris Marina, not a Minor. "What is this shit box? What is this car? A Morris?!"

[@JohnSmithShields]

@TheVeyron623 my mistake. You're right. Thanks.

[@FormulaGuppy]

Another great video Aidan. Nowt like coming back home after work to find an upload. Hang on 20 mins life ill get to ya.

[@yuglesstube]

Very interesting. Thanks

[@KR1736]

Flavio was probably laughing his head off after selling Prost this lemon

[@alaricbragg7843]

Great video! Cheers.

[@toolbox5226]

Great vid, cheers.

[@GroundHOG-2010]

"Same goes for Bruce Mclaren's teammates" - Actually, you already named Bruce Mclaren's teammate, Denny Hulme. Denny Hulme had two bosses that were also the owner of the team back to back. And it was only Bruce Mclaren's death that stopped Hulme from having that situation for his entire F1 career.

[@burkezillar]

That 2000 Prost car is a very underrated looking car. In my mind I think it’s a nicer looking car than the ‘91 Jordan.

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@turbod1]

A team doesn't always want to pass a crash test on the first go. To much of a chance to leave more weight then is needed

[@mrgobrien]

4:20 (stirling) moss (3rd from bottom in the graphic) famously did not win any f1 titles - i think he was world sportscar champ but i don't know how many times.

[@ShilohRules]

The race Panis broke his legs was the first F1 race I ever watched. Probably not the best first impression ever.

[@johnnygillon4615]

Thanks for such great videos. Please do an update on the Andretti situation. I would love your take on it as an American.

[@mrgobrien]

9:35 - the french politician guy drut (former olympic hurdles champion) is pronounced `ghee drew'.

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

07:10 I work in public transportation and old guys speak of the 1995 demonstrations as the next bug thing after d day.

[@Tacko14]

I have to say it somewhere, might as well be here: I admire the french willingness to strike and not mess about when they do it. Les Gilets Jaunes. Over here in the NL, we grumble. Each and every day. It’s more of a national pastime than watching football. But whenever there’s an actual strike, we say they shouldn’t because they rip up everyday life. Well, duh. That’s what strikes are meant for. In the UK, there’s some very nasty legislation now, saying the police have every right to stop a strike if it’s disruptive to society, ie. the guv don’t like it. That’s Orwellian.

[@AidanMillward]

Yep. Teachers went on strike and everybody complained because their days were being messed about. Maybe the parents could actually do their jobs in that time?

[@Tacko14]

Not just the teachers, mate. I’m not even british but I’m an avid follower of a different bias nonetheless. But latest headline is that the Brits are getting on with things, keeping their heads down, and that in itself will save the UK economy. Now, thát’s a bias! I smell, I smell what you don’t smell, and it carries fleas.

[@KR1736]

You guys oughta get a load of the labor situation in the United States. It stinks.

[@AidanMillward]

@@KR1736 “oh you’re pregnant? Better have that baby on your lunch break!”

[@KR1736]

@@AidanMillward “You’re injured at work? And you expect US to pay for it?!”

[@MrStophel1992]

I see a aidan video I hit like 😃

[@TheLockbeard]

Prost: SHINJI GET IN THE ROBOT.

[@GWFires]

*cough* in 1997 the launch of the JS45 was under the Ligier team name at Monaco. Panis drove even through Monaco. (hard to find video but "F1 1997 Season Review")

[@HonourGuardian]

Great Video as always but a missed opportunity to have a 2nd legendary title......... 'A Touch of Prost' ...... ok i'll show myself out

[@anidiotinaracingcar4874]

Senna driving for Prost, that would have been incredible

[@kevinprior3549]

You would have thought the old Brabham & McLaren would have been Australian & Kiwi teams respectively. But both were & are British!

[@mrgobrien]

brabham cars in f1 did originally had an australian engine (repco)

[@DannyTheGFP]

Prost's nose was the most aerodynamic thing in F1 history, FACT

[@haydenw8691]

Quote from Robin Williams. "Politics: Poli, a Latin word meaning many; and tics meaning, bloodsucking creatures."

[@damarfadlan9251]

Prost Peugeot had tons of potential in 1997.

[@billmcdonald4335]

14:09 ". . . _and_ Sir Jackie's. . ."

[@huwgrossmith9555]

Sad to see the team who finished 2 and 3 in Adelaide 85, if I recall one on 3 wheels, gone although I was never a Prost fan.

[@kevinprior3549]

I liked the Ligier team! Managed to get a few wins!

[@3twelveworkshop312]

“Give my sons race team some money, and I’ll get you better location on the sales floor of my supermarkets”… MMM sounds like extortion to me the X makes it sound cool

[@paolostrada93]

Huh. I always thought that Gitanes sponsorship was from the bike company. The more you know...

[@mrgobrien]

0:25 - the uk general election can be as late as jan 2025 (the last one was dec 2019 and the max is 5 years plus a "grace period" of 1 month before the next one has to happen).

[@captainsmartass3368]

I hope you can do videos on the Demise of Subaru world rally team and Mitsubishi world rally team in the World Rally Championship.

[@thirdwheel1985au]

3:09 so you're saying he said "ooh la la, c'est les flics" which is French for "Crikey! It's the rozzers!"

[@jacekatalakis8316]

It always stings we'll never know how good Panis could have been though, he was quick in 97 and then Canada happened. Makes me wonder how good Panis could have been and where his career would have gone

[@thesunnynationg]

I felt so sorry for them, after such a great season fallingbso hard. it's such a great Loss to the F1 Grid they could have teamed up with Renault and both still be in the paddock as Prost Renault. imagine what could have been if Renault never happened with Alonso and Red Bull never get the constructors treatment by Renault. everything from 2003 to 2013 could have went completely different. and maybe even a threat to Mercedes in their dominance?

[@jimdillinger7757]

You forgot to mention the ceramic gearbox, Prost was conned by this.

[@AidanMillward]

Didn't forget anything.

[@jimdillinger7757]

@@AidanMillward maybe I wasn't paying full attention.

[@alaricbragg7843]

Chris Amon and Art Mezario also briefly formed Formula One teams in the 1970s.

[@luisabreu1198]

Parnelli Jones too.

[@e-money9251]

I know he was no longer a driver then but didn’t roger penske also formed a team once that managed to win a race and seemed like a genuine future title contender before he pulled the plug to focus on Indy? Imagine we could have a timeline where penske literally dominated the entire world of motorsport

[@stewartbrown6]

"a deal with a Saudi prince also falling through" 😂 - I genuinely don't know if that is serious or not!

[@donQpublic]

I thought the P word was pepperoni.. pizza, pasta or Peyronie’s disease.

[@polycube868]

Ha ha

[@palm92]

The JS45-Mugen-Bridgestone could have been a race winner, IMO. Also, according to Nakano Prost wasn't fond of him (perhaps justified, nice guy though).

[@Exponaut_R-01]

Sad we could never enjoy too much of French cars winning in that unique blue. If only Peugeot engines were actually good, that sounds like a neat concept.

[@S777DJT]

Please do a video on Panis

[@dpause10]

Prost and the French wanting to do this all French thing, and worse putting themselves at the mercy of politicians and taxpayers wasn't just an anachronism. It was also just a really bad idea! Crazy too because Renault tried that already in the 70's and 80's and never really succeeded, certainly not nearly to the same level when they partnered up with Williams and absolutely crushed the competition in the early 90s.

[@jaredsiew8413]

That's also happening in Alpine too, especially under Bruno Famin

[@Zephirot080]

I remember PSN... Lasted as much as a fart in the wind

[@RMhoneybadger]

…..and goodbye?

[@Midtable1881]

HE'S BALD! HE'S RED! HE SLEEPS IN FERGIES BED! HOWARD WEBB! HOWARD WEBB!

[@deepat]

I have a good topic for you to cover. Drugs in motorsport. There is too much at stake for them not to be jucied to the gills. The fact nobody gets caught, to me means it is widely accepted.

[@alaricbragg7843]

Peugeot's heart was always in rallying. That was the problem.

[@Box1-lf9hv]

It's not that. The problem is that Peugeot's F1 engines have reliability problems. Look at how McLaren suffered with them in 1994 which costed them with fourth place in the manufacturer standings. You can blame the terrible reliability for that.

[@alaricbragg7843]

@@Box1-lf9hv Well that is it. I always got the impression that the V10s would not have been interesting BBQs if Peugeot had put more effort into them. It is very strange considering the engines did very well at Le Mans. Consider that Peugeot had several touring car operations, an F2 rallying program and were waiting for the WRC car rules to come into place. Granted, they had a great 1997 with Jordan but apart from that the heart in their F1 efforts did not seem to be there. They did not have their priorities right and their resources would have been stretched.

[@zanemarte9877]

​@@alaricbragg7843 On one part you are correct this is because on his Beyond The Grid podcast, Prost said "Peugeot wanted to stop Formula 1 after their deal with Jordan ended in 1997." They only went with the deal at Prost because of the potential to become a pure french powerhouse team which Prost shouldn't have even done in the first place. Honestly what he should've done was keep the Honda's they had in 1997 for the two following years and get Renault on board in 2000 and then they can build the pure french powerhouse team with Renault and not Peugeot which btw ranks in the Top 10 for biggest F1 Manufacturer failures EVER.

[@alaricbragg7843]

@@zanemarte9877 Thanks. I think Peugeot arrogantly thought that they could enter Formula One and beat rival French make Renault straight away. When that did not happen they quickly got frustrated. Probably wanted to leave in 1998 because Renault briefly left Formula One around then.

[@fuller9x]

Pity, since there were so much hopes that Prost would succeed, but the team became too French and then they decided to make pepper grinders.

[@CD-Gaming]

With the French Football team and winning, you forget to mention that they also won the Euros in 2000, the first to ever do so, as a result the stocks for the entire French team absoluteley skyrocketed! On LMA Manager, for example, it became effectively impossible to buy Thierry Henry from Arsenal, the only viable way was seemingly to cheat! Literally, using the actual Cheats that came with the games that enabled you to buy anyone you wanted and basically have them agree to a Contract that paid pittence! Also, trivia, France beat Brazil 3-0 in that Final in Paris, I remember watching it with my dad and hoping for a Brazil win! We also watched Leeds United beat Scumchester United in the FA Cup in 2010 with a Jermaine Beckford 69th minute goal, only for some "We Beat The Scum 1-0 Party" to show up on our Ballot papers here in Leeds... Scumchester, of course, where French Goalkeeper, Fabien Barthez, went after the French international wins, and for more trivia: try to name the Dane he replaced and the team his son got a start at!

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

Being I support the formerly mighty Manchester United he replaced (poorly) Schmeichel and his son got a start at Man City

[@CD-Gaming]

​@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 Wong, it wasn't Man City!

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

@@CD-Gaming I mean he was in the academy haha but not sure if he went on loan first

[@CD-Gaming]

@@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 It wasn't on loan!

[@AidanMillward]

Didn’t forget to mention anything.

[@mrterp04]

1:50 this is also how a lot of US sponsorships work, most notably Menards in Nascar.

[@ashooaway]

Prost GP more like Prostmortium GP

[@LuminalSpoon]

All I have to say is... French politics is mad as fuck.

[@crystalracing4794]

Beautiful cars, dreadful Peugeot engines and misguided management

[@guessundheit6494]

0:15 - The lavaTories are going down the lavatory. 4:25 - That's an insult to Prost and Senna. They raced against each other and against grids full of legends with multiple competitive teams, and is why 1980-1993 will forever be F1's greatest era. Backmarker, Hamilton, Vettel, and Verstappen had one competing team or driver to beat, at most, in any given year. Sometimes none. It's easy to pile up wins when there's no competition.

[@solitaryclusterofneurons598]

Someone's forgotten 2007, 2010, and 2012

[@kitko33]

Prost was really desperate at times - so much so that they put the notorious junkie Tomas Enge behind the wheel. The whole stunt was fully paid for by one Mr Charouz and Enge proved to be the worst driver Prost had both that season and overall.

[@reptongeek]

Tomas Enge said he was in a club where someone was smoking cannabis and it got into his system somehow. As for his performances I'm guessing given how late it was in the season and Prosts budget at the time, he wouldn't have had any testing in the car

[@Lukeywoodsey]

They got all this government funding, yet the UK government couldn't care less about Silverstone or the UK motorsport industry

[@polycube868]

Yet Alpine can't do anything with it

[@AidanMillward]

The UK government gave 300 million to the smaller UK venues in 2021 as a Covid relief package and has been handing out grants and incentives to the motorsport industry in that valley between Birmingham and Oxford for years.

[@polycube868]

@AidanMillward the US government gave North Carolina 30 million for renovating North Wilkesboro Speedway, Rockingham (North Carolina Speedway) and Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro was left for dead, weeds growing out of it, and Dale Jr sent to team to weed eat so it could be scanned for iRacing.

[@6lemans10]

Prost fell out with everybody.

[@kopsik111]

172 million francs is only 22,5 million pounds

[@AidanMillward]

In my defence, it’s been a long time since I’ve fucked some maths up.

[@matthewsaw1444]

26.2 Million Euro not 262 Million Euro