Prost in line for Mugen customer deal

Mugen, the Honda-approved performance specialists, currently supply the Jordan team with engines developed from a Honda design. Jordan are set to receive full works-spec Honda power units along with BAR next year, which would free up a Mugen engine supply for another team: potentially Prost.

Prost used Mugen engines in 1997 on a customer basis, before securing the works Peugeot deal. Ironically, more than double the points were scored in one season with the Japanese firm than those scored in two subsequent seasons with Peugeot. Alain Prost is said to have already approached Mugen boss Hirotoshi Honda about a 2001 deal.

Honda have not officially announced that Jordan will receive works engines, or that a customer Mugen engine will become available next year, even though Mugen has a contract with Jordan to supply a second team as long as the engine is a year old.

Supplying Prost would not only ease the blow of Peugeot's departure, but also help to alleviate the shortage of customer engines in F1, following the threat of Renault to end its Supertec operation after its recent acquisition of Benetton.