Don't blame Schuey, says Prost

Four times world champion Alain Prost believes that although Schumacher's continued success is causing problems for the sport, other factors including races dominated by strategy rather than out-and-out battling, plus arguments about costs and politics, are all causing further trouble.

"Schumacher's domination is probably one of the factors hurting F1 right now, but that's just an excuse," said Prost in an interview with French television station TF1. "It's true that when people see Schumacher winning every grand prix, there is less scrapping. But I think it is a collection of things - and there are two or three other factors.

"I watched the Japanese Grand Prix and it was very interesting for the first 14 laps, but then came the pit stops and no one understands it anymore.

"Personally I am against refuelling. A high-performance car, from the time it takes on low fuel and new tyres will still be high performance. So these rules absolutely must be changed because they do not help give the spectator the kind of show they want."

He added: "And then, there is the whole political and financial side of everything and it has people a bit fed up with it all. As far as I'm concerned, things need to be changed instead of just blaming Schumacher all the time."