F1 team skids into receivership
Alain Prost has today announced his Formula One team has gone into receivership following a decision of a Versailles court.
The team will continue to race through the 2002 season as it battles to find a solution for its financial debt, which is estimated to be about 200m French Francs (Pounds 19.1m).
Judge Franck Michel was nominated to assist the case and the team will be under observation for six months.
In a press conference on Thursday afternoon Prost said the team, Prost Grand Prix, was going to ‘fight to continue’ and to ‘safeguard its future.’ He added the team was actively searching for a financial partner.
He pointed out that Michel’s role in the case was one of ‘assistance’ rather than a legal representation.
Prost said PGP’s financial difficulties came as no surprise to the team, which had lost several sponsors in 2000 as they decided not to renew contracts after three years. He added the team, launched in 1997, had been finding things particularly difficult since September and October of last year.
According to Prost, ‘the ideal solution for the team would be to find one large sponsor’. Observers say possible sponsors would have to be willing to part with over 20 million euros (£12.4m) to fuel PGP which runs on 23 million euros (£14.3) per year.
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