FEBRUARY 6, 2001

Prost predicts improvements in 2001

ALAIN PROST has praised the design of his new car, declaring: "This year will be completely different to 2000 for Prost."

The former world champion has seen testing go well, and that has built confidence for a better future.

"We have been four or five seconds quicker than last year's car, and it is a very good machine without any weak points," Prost said.

"We have done some very long runs in testing and it has been good for the performance of the car," he added. "It is very stable and we have adapted it to the engine and the tires well."

Despite lacking the major backing of many other teams, Prost believes the main problem the team encountered last year was with their tire supply.

"Technically we are not a good team," he said. "We don't have a major manufacturer behind us, but with Bridgestone we could not close the gap on Ferrari. It will be much easier to get up the grid with Michelin, and we are very confident of doing that."

The new car has been running in testing, but no date has yet been set for it's official launch.