1999 Driver Profiles by Julie Gates

Team: Prost

by Julie Gates

The Team: Overall, another disappointing season for the French outfit. Being plagued with reliability issues all season long, the last eight races alone witnessed six retirements; many due to the car's engine or gearbox. Disputes with Peugeot caused unsettlement within the team, each unhappy with the other's performance. Naturally, this only hindered progress and performances continued to suffer. The team has occasionally impressed, sometimes qualifying in the top ten and putting up the odd fight come race day. Trulli's performance at Luxembourg was particularly impressive to finish second, and this contributed greatly to their nine points, leaving them seventh in the Constructors' Championship. However, it wasn't just Peugeot who suffered relationship problems with Prost himself; Panis also became unhappy with the team manager and this caused more discomfort within the team. They worked hard this year, vowing their gearbox problems of '98 would be no more, but lack of reliability and pace has strongly affected the team's results.

Driver - Jarno Trulli: Despite being in inferior machinery, the Italian has put in some impressive performances this season. Notable is his race at Luxembourg, where he withheld immense pressure from Rubens Barrichello to finish in second position - his and the team's highest this year - after qualifying a lowly twelfth. His performance at Austria was also impressive, also Japan until his engine died. He has been consistent, both in qualifying and race trim, scoring seven of the team's nine points. However, the second half of the season has been him out-paced by Olivier Panis, albeit mostly in qualifying, but he has still held the upper hand, and is the reason Prost are seventh overall.

Driver - Olivier Panis: Unhappy with relations at Prost, his season has been far from ideal. Scoring only two points and suffering numerous mechanical failures, he has failed to capitalise on his obvious talent. Qualifying during the second half of the season has been promising, out-pacing his team mate five to three. Race performances have proved fruitless; largely thanks to poor reliability, he only managed to score two points. With just a pretty average year, he departs to German Touring Cars, and a test seat at McLaren, hoping to re-ignite some career - displaying some of his talent from 1997.

Conclusion: A tough year for the team, suffering problems with team relations, their engine supplier, reliability and overall balance of the car. However, some races proved impressive, such as Luxembourg, and qualifying in Japan, leading them to score nine much-needed points. Obviously, they could have done a lot better, but with the dominance of McLaren, Ferrari and Jordan, the season could have been worse.

Grade: D