Prost: Teams risk "economic death" for choosing the most talented drivers

Former F1 driver Alain Prost has expressed his frustrations with current driver situation in the sport. Lance Stroll will likely force Esteban Ocon to leave Force India at the end of the season, which means the young Frenchman is likely to miss out on a seat in 2019.

His frustrations grow as teams have no option but to choose the financial benefits over driver performance. Renault was going to sign Ocon but turned him down for Daniel Ricciardo. Toto Wolff slammed Renault for this, but Prost hits back.

"Toto Wolff criticised Renault, but why didn't he replace Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes with Ocon," Prost said.

The Renault advisor claims teams face "economic death" should they choose the more talented driver.

"To reach F1 without any money is very complicated today. Drivers' careers are starting increasingly earlier. A four-year-old kid is put into a kart before moving through racing's junior ranks, which requires a lot of financial support," Prost told L'Equipe.

"To prepare for the future, they benefit from test programmes with older-spec cars," added the four-time world champion.

"When I was a team owner, I was also confronted with the difficulty of choosing between a talented driver and one with money. If you take the former, you risk an economic death."