S5 E8: Prost Grand Prix's first F1 season - 1997
Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 stories
The Race Media Ltd
4.9 • 764 Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2022
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Karun Chandhok and Matt Beer join Glenn Freeman to look back at the team’s first year under its new identity, where things started off so well. We explore what could have been possible had Olivier Panis not broken his legs at the Canadian Grand Prix, the fluctuating form of the team and stand-in driver Jarno Trulli, a falling out with Damon Hill, and how the signs were already showing that this was as good as it would get for Prost’s team.
ASK US ANYTHING: Get your questions in about F1 from 1989-2005 using #BringBackV10s on Twitter or email bringbackv10s@the-race.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In the 1990s, it always felt like a matter of time before Alan Prost would take over Ligier, |
| 0:11.0 | and when it finally happened in 1997, it got off to a great start. |
| 0:15.0 | But behind the scenes, Prost had serious doubts about going through with it even in the days before he signed |
| 0:21.7 | the paperwork. And despite the team taking a credible sixth in the championship and almost |
| 0:26.7 | winning a race, while star driver Olivier Panis was out with broken legs, 1997 was as good |
| 0:32.9 | as it would get for Prost. I'm Glenn Freeman and joining me for what I can assure you is not the only episode |
| 0:39.1 | we will ever do on Prost Grand Prix here on Bring Back V10s are Karun Chanduck and Matt Beer. |
| 0:45.1 | Now Karun, welcome back. Good to have you on again. You and Matt were both very quick to raise |
| 0:50.1 | your hands for this episode when we started discussing ideas for series five. So when you think of |
| 0:55.9 | the first year of Alan Prost's F1 team, what's the first thing that comes to mind? |
| 1:00.5 | Probably the Spanish Grand Prix. You know, all of a sudden we've got Pannis in the Bridgestone |
| 1:06.8 | short Prost-Mug and Honda chasing down Jacques Belilov in, you know, what was the dominant car, |
| 1:14.0 | what should have been the dominant car of that season. And at various points of race, |
| 1:18.2 | he was quicker than Jack. So for me, yeah, that was a standout race really of that. Yeah. |
| 1:24.6 | What about you, Matt? There's quite a lot to choose from when we do one of these |
| 1:27.7 | episodes where you're looking at a full season. I'm going on a couple of weeks later than Karun |
| 1:31.8 | and a slightly different vibe. It's that, it's that Prost in the tire wall in Montreal and one |
| 1:37.5 | those things with the TV cuts to it and you think, oh, that doesn't look pleasant. That doesn't |
| 1:42.0 | look comfy. Yeah, that was a big, big moment in Prost season. |
| 1:46.7 | And who knows how the year might have looked without that incident. |
| 1:49.7 | We will get to Canada and cover it in plenty of detail. |
| 1:52.7 | Before we get into Prost in 1997, let's give some more shoutouts to those of you |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Race Media Ltd, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Race Media Ltd and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.