Prost loses Gauloises backing.

Just days after securing a deal to use Ferrari engines next season, Alain Prost has discovered that he will have to find another title sponsor.

Despite the promise that the association with Ferrari holds for the next two years, cigarette company Gauloises has decided that enough is enough and, twelve months after it was last rumoured to be withdrawing its support for the team, the move has been made official.

The announcement appears to have come as no surprise to the struggling French team, which Prost himself has been trying to offload this season. Along with Minardi, it is the only one of the eleven entrants not to have registered a point in 2000, and continues to struggle with reliability problems.

''The relationship between Prost Grand Prix and Gauloises Blondes has always been friendly and open,'' Prost explained, ''Throughout our partnership, the groups management has always been extremely correct in keeping me constantly abreast of its strategy, so the end of the sponsorship is not a surprise.''

With internet company Yahoo! also rumoured to be considering its involvement with the team next year, Prost may yet find himself struggling to raise the finance needed to make the most of the Ferrari deal. All is not lost, however, with rumours that either Minardi sponsor Telefonica - along with driver Marc Gene - may be moving to Guyancourt for 2001, or that French brewing company Interbrew may be bidding to sponsor the team through its Stella Artois brand.