For 1998, Alain Prost's team signed a three-year agreement with Peugeot. The commercial agreements required at least one French rider and so Panis was reconfirmed, protagonist of an excellent 1997 season before the accident in Canada. As second driver, Prost would have liked Damon Hill or Alex Zanardi but neither were available and so remained Jarno Trulli. The new AP01, designed by Bigois, had rather innovative shapes. During the year, various suspension, gearbox and behavior problems in general penalized the performance of the AP01. The team managed to collect only one point, thanks to Trulli's 6th place at Spa. Panis did not go beyond the 9th place obtained in the opening GP, in Australia.