Prost went on to win the 1977 Formula Renault European championship before moving up to Formula Three (F3) in 1978. In 1979, he won both the French and European F3 championships, by which time he was on the shopping lists of several Formula One teams. After carefully considering his options, he chose to sign with McLaren for . He surprised the British team by declining their offer of a race drive in a third car at the final race of the 1979 season at Watkins Glen — reasoning that the token effort would benefit neither him nor the team. Prost felt that it would be a mistake to race in Formula One without being fully prepared: "..in the end I said, ‘No’ to Marlboro. I asked them to understand that I didn’t want to make a mistake; I didn’t know Watkins Glen and I didn’t know the car. I said I thought it would be a better idea to organise a test."