Jan.29 (GMM) No longer a team owner, the quadruple world champion Alain Prost admits he is happy to now be a formula one spectator.
The 53-year-old's Guyencourt based Prost Grand Prix collapsed at the end of 2001, but Prost says spending in the sport spiralled even more out of control since then."Today I am making more money but I am less interested in the world of F1," he is quoted as telling the Associated Press in the French language.When asked about the global financial crisis' impact on the sport, including Honda's withdrawal and dwindling sponsors, Prost's advice to F1 stakeholders is "don't panic"."I prefer people who say 'let's think' rather than 'let's stop'. Honda aside, I don't think there is panic," he said in Paris."In F1, everyone is in the same boat with having to reduce budgets, and in the last ten years I had never seen F1 with such an abundance of resources," Prost continued.He believes, however, that he took part in F1's "golden years" and that these days are over."There is less overtaking and more strategy. Everything happens on the pitwall and the drivers just go."We had to save the brakes and the gearboxes, and monitor fuel consumption, but now it has all been organised by the starting grid," Prost said."I experienced the golden age, but there were crashes, deaths. The drivers today are in a golden age of safety."Since leaving the paddock, Prost has concentrated on racing in the Andros ice-racing series, as well as supporting the burgeoning career of his son Nicolas.
