JANUARY 15, 2002

Michel studying the Prost dossier

FRANCK MICHEL, the judicial administrator appointed by the Tribunal de Commerce in Versailles in November to oversee the affairs of Prost Grand Prix, is now studying the dossier put forward by Alain Prost. Prost hopes that a rescue package he has put together will help to get the team back on the road and will pay off the team's $30m of debt.

As part of the deal it is expected that Prost himself will sign over some of his 51.3% shareholding in the team. It is not clear what will happen with the 40% owned by the Diniz Family now whether the other shareholders LV Capital (a division of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) and the US Internet company Yahoo will still be involved.

Prost says that he has $40m from a consortium of investors to keep the team running but says that he will need to find more sponsorship to keep the team running properly in the future. Michel, who's job it is to see that the a fair solution is found will now have to have talks with the creditors, the investors and the staff of Prost GP to see if the plan is realistic. He is expected to give his decision within a week.