Interim Prost until Europe arrives.

Alain Prost has revealed that his team will not be running in full 2001 configuration until the San Marino Grand Prix at the earliest, as it seeks improved reliability over last year.

The Frenchman admitted that his primary concern for the three flyaway races that kick off the new season was to ensure that his drivers were in a position to put points on the board before other teams get teething troubles sorted on their new cars. Prost went through the 2000 campaign without scoring, and suffered an appalling reliability record with the Peugeot-engined AP03.

This year, the new AP04 features a Ferrari engine and gearbox combination, and lead driver Jean Alesi has already been able to rack up the miles in testing without problem. Prost, however, has now announced that the Frenchman was running in a less than optimum aerodynamic spec as new arrival Henri Durand works on the definitive package for the start of the European season.

"We wanted to get the [new] car out on the track as soon as possible, and leave it to Durand to work on the aerodynamics," Prost is quoted as saying, "We want to be able to score points when a lot of the other teams are having problems with their new cars."

Despite the loss of Gauloises backing, and possibly the traditional blue paintwork that accompanied it, for 2001, Prost is keen to keep his operation as French as possible - which rather flies in the face of the latest rumour to surround the team. According to various sources, Prost is rumoured to be eyeing up the current McLaren premises in Surrey with a view to moving from the state-of-the-art facility already occupied in Guyancourt, near Paris. McLaren is scheduled to move into its own new hi-tech factory - Paragon - shortly.