The rumour is that VW will race this year under the Skoda brand name by taking Prost GP's gridspot, chassis and using an older engine. They realize they will finish in last place, which is why they don't want to race under the VW or Audi brand name. It would tarnish the VW or Audi reputation for them to be so off the pace - which they likely will as they may not even qualify for many of the races. They can enter F1 for 3 million pounds by purchasing Prost GP's assets, or they can wait and enter as Toyota did and pay something like 40 million pounds and have to wait likely for the 2004 season. So it's entirely a money-saving decision in addition to a different philosophical approach. Whereas Toyota entered F1 after doing extensive testing for two years before they ever entered a race, VW wants to do their development during actual races. Since they'll be running under the Skoda brand name, they aren't too concerned about finishing well during this time period. As they build up their performance and become respectable, VW will rename the team as either Volkswagen or Audi. Anyhow, Thomas Enge, the Czech driver is being linked to the team as their number 1 driver. They will race with old Arrows engines in an agreement with Tom Walkinshaw of Arrows. Paul Stoddart of Minardi is furious with this development. He has stated he will try everything possible to prevent the deal from being done as it cost him 21 million pounds to keep Minardi on the grid after going through a more kosher route. This deal is actually far worse than some of the offers put forth for Prost GP in previous months. In this deal, none of Prost's creditors get any of their money as the actual business is not being sold - only the assets, including their gridspots in F1.
