Prost Failure a Wake-Up Call, Says Stoddart

Formula One must wake up and take action to prevent other teams following debt-laden Prost into liquidation, according to Minardi boss Paul Stoddart.

"Prost was a wake-up call to all of us," the Australian-born businessman, who bought his team last year when they were in danger of folding, told reporters. "I don't think there is any team now that is in trouble but obviously if anyone lost a title sponsor or, heaven forbid, something else happened in the world then who knows.

"Now is the time to sort out the prevention before we need the cure."

Speaking after announcing Australian Mark Webber as a Minardi driver, Stoddart expressed sympathy for four times World Champion Alain Prost and the team put into liquidation by a French court. He said Minardi were on a solid financial footing but all teams were going to find it harder to find sponsorship as they had in the past.

"If we are to protect the teams that are left we really need to seriously look at how the funds are distributed within Formula One on a bit more of a level footing to make sure that there's no more casualties like Prost. It really is up to the rest of the teams. No one wants to see what has happened to Prost happen to any other team."

Formula One teams receive a share of the sport's revenues under a closely-guarded Concorde Agreement negotiated with Bernie Ecclestone. But they are calling for a far bigger slice now that Ecclestone has sold control of his SLEC holding to Germany's Kirch television group.

Lauda

Prost's departure left Jaguar's Niki Lauda as the only former champion still in charge of a team and the Austrian also expressed sympathy.

"His team went wrong at the wrong time," he told the Guardian newspaper. "If you do not perform and the economy is strong, there is a chance to fight your way out of trouble. If you don't perform and there is a recession, you are in trouble."

"Normally in Formula One it is possible to ride the storm. But private teams such as Prost, which don't have a major manufacturer behind them, have a double problem."

Prost had Ferrari engines but were one of a handful of privately owned teams left in a sport increasingly dominated by the major carmakers - FIAT, Mercedes, BMW, Renault, Honda, Toyota and Ford. Minardi, the smallest team of all, have Asiatech engines but are getting them for free this season.

Italian Jarno Trulli, who finished second at the Nurburgring in a Prost in 1999, thanked the Frenchman for his support and only podium of his career to date. Former Prost drivers Olivier Panis and Nick Heidfeld were also quoted in Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper as expressing their sadness.

"We all know how things go in Formula One but the closure of this team is a bad thing for the whole Championship," said Frenchman Panis, a winner with Ligier in 1996.

"I knew they were sailing in heavy waters but I did not think that the adventure would truly finish," said German Heidfeld, now with Sauber. "I hope that someone could yet intervene."