SEPTEMBER 15, 1997
Prost's technical team
British engineer George Ryton - a longtime collaborator of John Barnard - is looking after research and development, his most recent project having been the design of the 1998 gearbox, which was run for the first time last week at Magny-Cours by Olivier Panis.
Prost is intending to use this team to build the first Prost-Peugeot, which is due to be finished in mid-December but will not test until January, when Peugeot's contract with Jordan will be over.
We anticipate that Renault Sport's technical director Bernard Dudot will quit at the end of the season when Renault withdraws from F1 and will take up the role of technical director at Prost. We also believe that Peugeot's technical coordinator Jacky Eeckelaert will switch to a similar role at Prost, working with his former Peugeot colleagues.
One man which does not appear to be joining Prost is his longtime friend and collaborator Hugues de Chaunac - who has long been tipped to take over as team director. We hear that despite de Chaunac's enthusiasm for the job, Prost has decided that it is best not to employ his friends.
Cesare Fiorio, incidentally, looks set to stay with the team - despite his past differences with Alain. He is well-connected in the paddock, which is useful for Prost, but has almost no involvement with the team between races.