Prost started with a clean slate in 2001 and things have at least improved a bit. They scored some points, for a start. That tells its own tale - that reliability is much better than it was.

Performance-wise, too, Prost appear to be inching forward.

The car was not the rocket ship that it was made to appear in pre-season testing, but it was a respectable low-midfield runner. Considering where Prost is coming from, that is a reasonable achievement.

In fact, this should be no surprise. Prost had customer Ferrari engines in 2001. They may be expensive, but it is a far better option than the Peugeot it had the previous season.

On top of that, the engine has come with a Ferrari gearbox and rear end, meaning that Prost have only two-thirds of a car to design rather than the whole lot.

Whether Prost can move on from here, though, is another matter.

Their future - and that of team boss Alain Prost - continues to be the subject of fevered speculation in F1. And there seems no certainty over its set-up for the next few years - and, worse, the team are clearly in financial hardship.