Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsOpinion

Prost calls for complete overhaul of F1

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Four-time drivers' champion Alain Prost says Formula One needs a complete overhaul with a long-term vision to strengthen the sport.

A meeting of the World Motor Sport Council [WMSC] in December saw FIA president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone handed more power to make recommendations and decisions over key issues in F1. With planned aerodynamic regulation changes for 2017 set to be watered down and engine manufacturers meeting to deliver proposals to reduce costs, Prost says an overall view of the sport is needed to make major change.

"I don't want to enter too much into this perspective and I'll tell you why: people only talk about one thing and that is the problem with F1," Prost told Motorsport.com. "People look at the engine, the chassis and then the sporting regulations. But, in my opinion, we need to have a complete package and that is going to take a long time.

"So I don't want to see things going out in the press, as I can see sometimes quotes that don't reflect what I think. There are a lot of things that you need to change altogether."

And Prost says he agrees with both Todt and Ecclestone's concerns that changes need to be made.

"Yes, but as I said I think the better way is by having a full package [of changes]. It is not only the engine, or the chassis. It is revenues, it is sporting regulations, it is everything altogether.

"You need to give the possibility to small teams to be more competitive, not only by adding more money, but by finding different ways in the regulations, [especially] the technical regulations."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.