Analysis: Spectre of Lotus Haunts Prost

Alain Prost, racing against time to try to ensure a future for his debt-laden Formula One team, has more than enough on his plate to waste any time worrying about the past.

But others, waiting for a decision to emerge from the official receiver - French judge Franck Michel - on whether or not the team can survive and start the season on March 3, might want to cast their minds back to an afternoon in 1995.

January 17 is not an auspicious date. On that day a statement was issued to announce that Lotus, one of the most famous names in the sport since their debut in Monaco in 1958, had made all their staff redundant and were shutting up shop.

It said the decision was based on "the fact that funding contractually due had not arrived and, in the absence of that money, the company was no longer able to offer the staff a realistic prospect of ongoing employment."

"What I want to avoid," added team owner David Hunt, brother of James, "is allowing the team to be put in a situation where it is going to struggle around at the back of the grid and have its name dragged further through the mud."

Briton Derek Warwick, who drove for the team in 1990, added further insights of his own a few days later.

"It is sad, but it is the world we live in," he said. "Our world takes no prisoners any more. Motor racing is in the big money league now, the very big league and a group of enthusiasts cannot just turn up and go and do it and succeed.

"It is all very well for Bernie Ecclestone and the people who run the sport to have very high standards but it makes it a very expensive and unforgiving sport to play in."

Money Worries

Plus ca change, as any French fan might say. Indeed, not much has changed, except more money than ever is needed. But since Lotus went to the wall, Formula One has managed to avoid similar high-profile failures. Simtek and Pacific made less of a splash mid-season in 1995, Forti in 1996.

The trouble for Prost is that the queue has now been accommodated, the manufacturers taking with them the big sponsors who want to back winners, and the global economic climate has turned distinctly chilly. Lotus's last major sponsorship deal was with the Camel cigarette brand and when that went in 1990 the problems really started. Prost had Gauloises until the end of 2000, a year when they were also linked to a possible Hunt takeover.

Prost now owe some $28 million and their biggest asset, besides the dedicated and highly professional staff of 300 in Guyancourt, is their slot on the grid. While still a source of pride for French fans, Prost's status as France's representatives in Formula One has also been diluted with the return of mighty Renault.

Only 12 teams are allowed into Formula One nowadays, unlike a decade or two ago when outfits came and went. Toyota's arrival with bulging bags of money this season means that if Prost fail, the status quo is maintained with 11 teams competing again in 2002.

Formula One, as Minardi boss Paul Stoddart reminded listeners last week, eats money and he cautioned against anyone coming in with less than $100 million to spend. The problems are unlikely to disappear in the short term. Prost may be lucky, a deal may yet emerge from the speculation and rumour that has left anxious employees hopeful one day and fearing the worst the next.

But judge Michel could equally decide that enough is enough and cast the team on a scrapyard that is already overflowing with evocative names. Here lie the once great - such as Lotus, Brabham, BRM - and lesser lights who also reached the end of the road: AGS, ATS, BRM, Coloni, EuroBrun, Fittipaldi, Forti, Hesketh, Larrousse, March, Onyx, Osella, Pacific, Shadow, Simtek.

If Prost go it will be a sad day for Formula One. It will also be yet another reminder of how tough it is to survive.