Stalled move puts Prost in mood to quit

Alain Prost, the former world champion, has threatened to give up his Formula One team because of bureaucratic interference and political pressure.

"All I care for is to win. If I'm prevented from winning, I will draw all the necessary consequences," the Frenchman, head of the Prost grand prix team, told the French financial daily, Les Echos, yesterday.

Prost said he was angered by the delayed transfer of his team's headquarters from Magny-Cours, site of the French Grand Prix for the past decade, to Versailles, near Paris.

The move set off a political controversy. The Magny-Cours area is dominated by the ruling Socialist party while Versailles is a traditional stronghold of the right, who support the French president, Jacques Chirac.

Magny-Cours, a small village near Nevers in central France, has been the home of the Ligier team which Prost bought at the start of this season from the Benetton chief, Flavio Briatore.

Prost said: "It was a businessman's decision [to leave Magny-Cours]. Looking back, you'll realise Ligier were not efficient enough. It had nothing to do with their very competent staff but it was due to their isolation."