Asiatech announcement imminent.

The Nurburgring rumour suggesting that Arrows will switch to Jaguar-spec Cosworth engines was all but confirmed by current supplier Asiatech at Magny-Cours today.

The engine builder, which took over Peugeot's F1 manufacturing capability at the end of an unsuccessful 2000 campaign for the French marque, has supplied Arrows on a 'works' basis this season but, with fees looming for continued use of the improving V10, the Leafield team looks certain to switch to Cosworth next year.

Speaking at the first official press conference of the French GP weekend, Asiatech's Enrique Scalabroni intimated that the move was almost certain, and that his company would be making an announcement regarding its own future in F1 shortly.

"We [have] made an announcement that we will change direction," the Argentine confirmed, "At the moment, we are analysing in what direction we will go and, shortly, we will announce that. You can count the number of teams [without engine deals] with the fingers of your hand - [there are] not too many, and the names are there and we need to see which is the best operation to do, what we have at the moment and what the teams have."

Current favourite to land the engines is Prost which, ironically, was keen to get rid of the Peugeot base units less than twelve months ago. The French team currently uses Ferrari engines, badged as Acers, but is likely to look for a cheaper alternative next season.

"You believe rightly that we will go forward with the Sauber team, and we are delighted about the collaboration we have achieved and we are very proud of Peter[Sauber]'s team to be fourth in the championship," confirmed Ferrari's Jean Todt, "Concerning Prost, we are still discussing the engine for next year."