Prost's New Car 'Almost Complete'

As time counts down on the future of the ailing Prost team, their employees are in good spirits following a meeting with the French minister of industry last Friday.

The team are working hard to ignore the threats of failure with everyone working as normal in a bid to get ready for the 2002 season, and the team have revealed that the new car is almost ready, though it is uncertain whether it will be completed before the Australian Grand Prix on March 3.

"The employees have found a new energy because it felt like they were heard," said a team spokesperson. "The attitude of everybody is very promising. The car is almost complete and there has not been any break in the design. We have done lots of simulation and the wind tunnel has been working a lot.

"But the manufacture of the car has been hampered because when you need to order materials things become more difficult."

Prost are one of only three Grand Prix teams to miss testing in Barcelona this week, with Arrows and Minardi the other pair awaiting their first track time of 2002.