Who deserves prosts' tv money?

[RWC]

The current argument going on bettween minardi and arrows is rather anoying.As an australian i'm tempted to support mr Stoddard when he says that the next team down the grid should get the money(millions)-but is he right?I did hear someone(official) say ages ago that minardi can't get it because they finnished last and last place never gets the money.Obviously prost is ruled out as the benificiaries because they're not on the grid this year.It all depends on the wording of the concord agreement of course,but there MUST be some lack of clarity in the situation if they're arguing about it.Tom's latest ploy was to tell all the other team owners(EXCEPT minardi)that they should divy it up amongst themselves-which could possibly be legaly right.Does anyone know for sure?

[Valve Bounce]

I put a hex on Tom Walkinshaw ages ago - he won't be getting a cent of that money.

Valve[img]http://www.**************************/smilies/bouncy.gif[/img]

[f1manoz]

If they are not going to give the money to any F1 teams, how about putting the money into a junior formula series or even the F3000 series?

[Adam43]

Obviously in the Concorde agreement somewhere it says that you have to start the following year. However IMO it is Prost's creditors and staff who deserve the money. The team earned it through their achievements and it should be used to pay of some of the debt.

[DNQ]

The money should go to Prost, or the remants of it to pay the debts, but I believe that out of ehtics, Minardi should get the cash.

[steve_r]

Why not split it up between all of last years teams?
It must be earning huge interest.

[Glen]

So little consideration is given to bankrupt companies and their creditors - I don't understand why they should be forgotten.

[Bibendum]

I must say, I very much doubt that there's a formal stipulation that the last team not get any money. I don't know the rules intimately, and I guess the Concorde Agreement is either secret or so boring as to be effectively so, but in my opinion the people who come to race should get the cash, and that's Minardi. Walkinshaw's objections appear entirely self-interested, as is perhaps reasonable; but I can't quite see why his noise-making should prevent the flow of *any* support to Minardi from FOA or whoever pays out the money.

[koby]

Why does Minardi think the money is theirs, they did not earn it - only from the misfortune or mismanagement at Prost do they think they they deserve it. If somebody won a gold medal at the Olympics - but died before the medal got handed out in some freak accident - would they give the gold medal to the 2nd placed person??

[steve_r]

I may be 10 steps behind everyone, but I'm sure that TV commentators used to say that this money was for next years travel expenses of the top 10 teams. Have I grabbed the wrong end of the stick? If I am correct, then Prost shouldn't get the money, but Minardi should...

I' probably wrong...again.

[EERO]

Ron Dennis made the point that the money is a prize and in a similar situation, If a skier nabbed a Bronze Medal and died-the medaal would still be awarded posthumously.

Sentimentality tells me give the money to Stoddard-I want Minardi to survive, but legally (AND ETHICLY) , the money belongs to Prost's creditors.

Unfortunately, I am fearful that the small amount will be thrown back into the pool for the other nine teams. I'll bet Minardi needs the rumoured Ten Million a whole lot more than Ferrari would need their share of an additional 2 million.

[freud]

Originally posted by Goon
So little consideration is given to bankrupt companies and their creditors - I don't understand why they should be forgotten.

Oh you'll make a good economist

[Mania]

Stoddarts whining has sealed the deal for me. I hope he doesent get one cent of the money. Im not a fan of Walkinshaw either but at least he isent crying and whining and moaning to anyone who would listen 24-7.

Maybe Giancarlo should start looking for another partner to help Minardi in case Stoddart does everyone a favor and leave F1 for good.

[Sato san]

I hope Minardi get the money . Whether they deserve it or not im not sure , but i know this much , if it wasnt for teams like Minardi , who else would have gave drivers like Fisi ,Webber etc a debut to show their talents to the bigger teams.

[Mr V]

the way i see it, wether Minardi deserve it or not, as Prost isn't about to recieve it, Phoenix don't have a claim to it, rather than it sitting in Bernies bank account making interest, give it to Minardi, after all, they need it more than Bernie!

[AndyF]

No one should get the money. Prost doesn't exist, so no one else deserves it. If an employee dies, does that mean that their junior in the company gets the money?

[Mekola]

I think Prost creditors should deserve the money to pay team Prost's debts.

[mac]

The money is to be put back into the sport - NOT for bailing out already bankrupt entities (Prost). By paying those creditors, the money is not going back in to the sport. However, Minardi will be putting the money back in to the sport. That is what it's for - it's revenue raised by tv and sponsorship, to be used by the teams to put back into the sport via using it to help them compete.

I cannot hide my disgust at Walkinshaw for attempting to redistribute the money and not include Minardi. It is just revolting.

The fact of the matter is Minardi NEED the money more than any other team. This is what the money should be used for. Not for filling te coffers of the Ferraris, Williams, McLarens, Renaults, Toyotas and Jaguars of the grid.

[Champ69]

I have sent a fax to all the teams asking if I can have the money
8P

[AndyF]

Originally posted by Champ69
I have sent a fax to all the teams asking if I can have the money
8P

Nice One!

[kyalami]

Give it to Jean Alesi, after all, he earned the points.

[Nicholas]

If Walkinshaw wants the money to go to last year's top nine, does Arrows count as the 9th? Since Minardi wanted the money to go to the 10th and 11th teams who finished behind Prost, it would appear that Walkinshaw is just trying to be a complete pain...

And since no-one seems to have mentioned Prost's creditors, I assume that it's not really an option :confused:

[Super Tourer]

Originally posted by mac
The fact of the matter is Minardi NEED the money more than any other team. This is what the money should be used for. Not for filling te coffers of the Ferraris, Williams, McLarens, Renaults, Toyotas and Jaguars of the grid.

I think we need to be careful using need as a requirement for receiving the cash, the fact that they may need it - doesn't mean they should get. I'm sure there are plenty of Prost's creditors that need money as well.

Although I don't weep for them, don't forget that FIAT is in fact in fairly serious financial difficulty and Ford are making multi-billion dollar losses worldwide and cutting thousands of jobs - so need is all relative really. Basically the point I am making, is that anyone can argue a good case for needing more money.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment, I am sure the other teams will claim that nobody made PS buy Minardi, and if he started the season without sufficient funds to survive - its tough. Okay, Minardi wouldn't be here without PS - but as it turns out, they may not survive anyway.

In the end F1 is a very rich man's sport, Bernie compared it to a poker game and likened the tail end teams to a poker playing sitting at the table with no chips.....simply put - if you don't have the chips, you can't or maybe shouldn't be playing the game.....

[Stephen Green]

At the end of the day the mopney was won by and due to Prost Grand Prix and as such should form part of the assets of the company. Given that to be the case, then the creditors of Prost Grand Prix should be the rightful beneficiaries to the money.

If any one of you were a Prost creditor, then you would be fighting tooth and nail for your slice of the debt owed to you.

In my humble opinion the money shouldn't go to any F1 team, it should be sent to the administrators of the Prost GP Team.

[Maxmil]

Originally posted by Stephen Green
In my humble opinion the money shouldn't go to any F1 team, it should be sent to the administrators of the Prost GP Team.

I share that humble opinion, and it's a little difficult to understand how the court let it get away. Of course they may believe it was sold to Phoenix along with the starting rights, but that has been pretty throughly demolished by now. If the court was aware of the money, they sure sold the F1 rights cheap. It's strange that no court demand was ever made on F1 for Team Prost's funds.