Farewell Prost/Phoenix/Dart

[Maxmil]

All three were dispatched by the High Court which ruled that the team(s)has/have no rights to start cars in the Formula One series. They also got stuck with the FIA's expemses and court costs. Thus passes the descendants of Ligier and Team Prost. The 12th slot will have to be filled next year by a new team or not at all.

[f1manoz]

That's no real surprise. It was all a joke to start with anyway.

RIP Ligier 1976-1996
RIP Prost 1997-2001

[Super Tourer]

Well done TW, what with Jos V, that's two lost court cases in a week.

I wonder if he's mate is still talking to him, being as he has paid an alleged £2M for a load of worthless 'memorabilia', bearing in mind that the remaining contents of Prost GP sold for under £500,000 for the lot!

[EERO]

Well, I alwys contended it was a ploy to to test the Concorde Agreement. Having failed, I'm guessing a couple of APO-5's will be for sale, really cheap.

[Mr V]

So, who actually owns the rights to the 12th slot then?

[Mr V]

so, who actually owns the rights to the 12th slot? i expect Bernie will give Tom and his mate a million quid (Tom needs the money at the moment anyway!) and sell the slot to the next Manufacturer who wants to join the circus!

[Lee Janotta]

I'd have to think it's still the property of the liquidators to sell as an asset of the Prost team.

[Super Tourer]

Interesting point, as all the Prost 'assets' have now been sold, so from the receivers point of you it may be done and dusted.

Certainly, Bernie won't have to pay anything to Dart as they have merely overpaid for a couple of showcars and have joined the long list of people that have tried to take on bernie and failed.

As no entry has been taken up this year, it may well be that the entry reverts to the FIA.

[Jukebox]

They wanted to appeal against the court order and poor ole' Stoddart won't get the much needed 12mill tv rights to keep on goin

[Stephen Green]

It's interesting to read in today's press that Paul Stoddard is waiting for the outcome of this as it affects his budget to the tune of $12 million approximately. He feels he is due the Prost TV money since Prosts demise but also worries that Phoenix may appeal to the European Court which would prolong the process and may mean Minardi not being on the grid next year due to a shortfall in budget.

[Super Tourer]

As much as I admire PS and what he has done for Minardi, I can't help feeling that his protests are a bit of a smokescreen.

Surely he bought Minardi before knowing whether Prost would be on the grid or not. If Prost had made it, he wouldn't have got the money anyway. Remember this is not technically money that is automatically 'due' to Minardi, as it has to be ratified by the other teams first.

He has already scored points this year, so will probably gain FIA money and benefits for next season, so strictly speaking if he's dependent on TV money he will get it for next year.

[Stephen Green]

I agree, just reporting what was on Reuters this morning, but a good point non the less.

[Tristan]

I'll hav an AP-05 if they're going cheap!! Face it, they'll be collector's items!!

[Mekola]

The Phoenix/DART presence in F1 was finally a bluff. I hope the AP-05 chassises could be converted to racing cars, at least to use in driving schools or formulas like the EuroBOSS.