Former F1 champion Prost says Mercedes can be beaten in 2015

The Frenchman, who is an ambassador for French car company Renault, reckons that despite the runaway success for Mercedes this season the competitive picture could be very different in 2015.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if, despite its strong form, Mercedes could be beaten as early as next year, he said: "I think it can.

"We have to wait first of all to define the regulations about the development of the engine, which is not easy. That is going to be quite important.

"When you have this kind of domination, it is going to be difficult [to beat it]: but not impossible.

"The way you can make different things on the chassis is limited, but I think altogether, team and engine, they [Mercedes' rivals] can do a better job."

Prost thinks that it was ultimately no surprise that Mercedes did so well this year, because it had been preparing much longer for the new regulations than its opposition.

"It was almost inevitable," he said. "I am not talking about the gap in performance, but that Mercedes had the advantage because they started this project more than three years ago.

"At the same time you had Renault fighting to be world champion four times consecutively.

"And maybe it was more difficult to change the way you work, the way you invest and the way you manage things, especially when you have a complete change of rules, a new way of building engines and a new approach. It is very difficult to do both things together.

"That is why we always talked about that - how Mercedes would be difficult to beat this year.

"They are also making the chassis and engine - and this is the year where it was also an advantage.

"If you look at the way that the car is working, it is not only an engine - it is the whole package and integration."

ENGINE FREEZE NEEDS LIFTING

Prost also believes that it is important for the future health of F1 that a push to ease the engine freeze is successful.

The fate of the rule change is currently in Mercedes' hands - with a crunch vote due to take place at an F1 Commission meeting next month.

But the German car manufacturer is fearful about a change resulting in a big hike in engine costs, so has indicated it will not support any tweak to the regulations.

When asked for his views on the matter, Prost said: "If you have the engine fixed today, you have destroyed everything.

"But if you give a lot of freedom cost issues are going to go up.

"So you need to find a compromise. And it is very important to have the compromise."