Alain Prost

:"Prost" redirects here. For other uses, see Prost (disambiguation).
Alain Marie Pascal Prost (born 24 February 1955 in Lorette, Loire, France) is one of the most successful drivers in the history of Formula One, winning four championships (1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993), being runner-up in another four (1983, 1984, 1988 and 1990), and for taking 51 wins in the time of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda's return. He is the only French world champion.
After retiring in Formula One in , he returned back to the sport as a test driver for in . Before he returned, he was testing the McLaren MP4/9 and the McLaren MP4/10 in a private test.
__TOC__
==Career==
=== 1980: McLaren ===
1979, following his dominace in Formula Three, the top teams finally began to take notice. He held talks with team principals Bernie Ecclestone and Teddy Mayer for drives at and respectively. Ever cautious in his negotiations, Prost turned down an offer from Teddy Mayer to race for McLaren in a third car at the 1979 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Prost, not knowing the car or the track was unwilling to race and possibly hamper his credibility. 
Following his rejection of the drive at the US Grand Prix, Teddy Mayer had switched his attention to American star, Kevin Cogan for the 1980 drive. However team sponsor, Marlboro still preferred Prost for the drive. On 29 November 1979, Mayer staged a shootout at the Le Castellet circuit between the two drivers for the seat. Prost dominated Cogan in his first drive in an F1 car. McLaren's lead driver John Watson commenting on Prost, "You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to see how good he was. The difference between him and Cogan was night and day".
The car that Prost and Watson would be driving in 1980, the McLaren M29 had been debuted mid-way through 1979. The car whilst capable of scoring in the points, often had significant aero issues and was not of the championship winning material, McLaren had developed in the past. Prost had joined the team amidst the political turmoil that invoked the team during its transition period under the old management of Teddy Mayer to its new ownership under Ron Dennis.
=== 1981-1983: Renault ===
==== 1981 ====
==== 1982 ====
==== 1983 ====
=== 1984-1989: Return to McLaren ===
==== 1984 ====
==== 1985 ====
==== 1986 ====
==== 1987 ====
==== 1988 ====
==== 1989 ====
=== 1990-1991: Ferrari ===
==== 1990 ====
==== 1991 ====
=== 1992: Sabbatical ===
=== 1993: Williams ===
== Non-Racing Formula One Career ==
Following his retirement, Prost had begun to reconsider whether he truely wanted to remain outside of the sport in 1994. Ron Dennis was in desperate need of a top driver to replace Senna at McLaren for 1994, and his first point of call was to attempt to placate Prost into reconsidering his retirement.
It had been clear that Prost was seriously considering a return to motorsport, when in January 1994 he released a statement noting "since rumours have been circulating about my possible return to competition, I have been wondering what people were thinking. Whatever final decision I take, for which no deadline has been fixed, I know it will not be easy."
His former boss, Frank Williams was quick to downplay any rumours of Prost's return for 1994, stating "He is not contractually free to race with any other team in 1994. He retired which is his privilege." Prost was cautious to respond, however he remained the favourite for the McLaren drive in 1994. Williams, however noted there had been no attempt from either Prost or McLaren to buy him out of his Williams contract.
In the beginning of March 1994, Prost admitted he continued to have a "great passion" for Formula One and agreed to participate in a test with McLaren before the beginning of the season. At Estoril, Prost completed six laps in the MP4/9, however found he was four seconds off Damon Hill's best time in the Williams. The result of the test provided confirmation for Prost, "I wanted to test myself, to see if I really wanted to start again. The answer is no. I'm not ready to take the risks anymore."
After confirming his retirement from racing, Prost was signed by Renault to participate in a consultancy and promotional role for their sporting activities. He had also signed as a commentator for TF1, the French television coverage of Formula One. 
His first race in a non-racing capacity was at the fateful 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Ahead of the race, his great rival Ayrton Senna recorded a message for his great rival during the warm-up session "a special message to my friend Alain, we all miss you Alain." Prost was both very surprised and touched by the message. At the time Senna was killed at Tamburello corner, Prost was watching the race from the Williams pit garage, standing alonside Frank Williams.
=== 1997-2001: Prost Grand Prix ===
==Formula One Statistical Overview==
===F1 Career History===
Year	Entrant 	Team 	Pts 	WDC Pos. 	Report
1980	Marlboro Team McLaren 	 	5 	16th 	Report
1981	Equipe Renault Elf 	 	43 	5th 	Report
1982	Equipe Renault Elf 	 	34 	4th 	Report
1983	Equipe Renault Elf 	 	57 	 	Report
1984	Marlboro McLaren International	 	71.5 	 	Report
1985	Marlboro McLaren International	 	73 (76) 	 	Report
1986	Marlboro McLaren International	 	72 (74) 	 	Report
1987	Marlboro McLaren International	 	46 	4th 	Report
1988	Honda Marlboro McLaren 	 	87 (105) 	 	Report
1989	Honda Marlboro McLaren 	 	76 (81) 	 	Report
1990	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	71 (73) 	 	Report
1991	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	34 	5th 	Report
1992	Ligier Gitanes Blondes 	Ligier-Renault	Test Driver	Test Driver	Test Driver
1993	Canon Williams Renault 	 	99 	 	Report
1996	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes 	 	Test Driver	Test Driver	Test Driver
Scores in brackets are gross scores; only best results where counted:
:Between 1981 and 1990, only the best eleven scores where counted
===Non-Racing Formula One Career===
Year	Role 	Employer
1994	Pundit 	TF1
1995	Pundit 	TF1
1996	Technical Advisor	
1997	Team Principal 	Prost-Mugen Honda
1998	Team Principal 	
1999	Team Principal 	
2000	Team Principal 	
2001	Team Principal 	
2010	Race Steward 	FIA
===Statistics===
Entries 	202
Starts 	199
Pole positions 	33
Front row starts	86
Victories 	51
Podia 	106
Fastest laps 	41
Points 	768.5 (798.5)
Laps raced 	10540
kms raced 	48973.423
Races led 	84
Laps led 	2684
kms led 	12480.712
Doubles 	18
Hat-tricks 	8
===Wins===
No.	Race 	No.	Race.
1 	1981 French Grand Prix 	27 	1987 Belgian Grand Prix
2 	1981 Dutch Grand Prix 	28 	1987 Portuguese Grand Prix
3 	1981 Italian Grand Prix 	29 	1988 Brazilian Grand Prix
4 	1982 South African Grand Prix	30 	1988 Monaco Grand Prix
5 	1982 Brazilian Grand Prix 	31 	1988 Mexican Grand Prix
6 	1983 French Grand Prix 	32 	1988 French Grand Prix
7 	1983 Belgian Grand Prix 	33 	1988 Portuguese Grand Prix
8 	1983 British Grand Prix 	34 	1988 Spanish Grand Prix
9 	1983 Austrian Grand Prix 	35 	1988 Australian Grand Prix
10 	1984 Brazilian Grand Prix 	36 	1989 United States Grand Prix
11 	1984 San Marino Grand Prix 	37 	1989 French Grand Prix
12 	1984 Monaco Grand Prix 	38 	1989 British Grand Prix
13 	1984 German Grand Prix 	39 	1989 Italian Grand Prix
14 	1984 Dutch Grand Prix 	40 	1990 Brazilian Grand Prix
15 	1984 European Grand Prix 	41 	1990 Mexican Grand Prix
16 	1984 Portuguese Grand Prix 	42 	1990 French Grand Prix
17 	1985 Brazilian Grand Prix 	43 	1990 British Grand Prix
18 	1985 Monaco Grand Prix 	44 	1990 Spanish Grand Prix
19 	1985 British Grand Prix 	45 	1993 South African Grand Prix
20 	1985 Austrian Grand Prix 	46 	1993 San Marino Grand Prix
21 	1985 Italian Grand Prix 	47 	1993 Spanish Grand Prix
22 	1986 San Marino Grand Prix 	48 	1993 Canadian Grand Prix
23 	1986 Monaco Grand Prix 	49 	1993 French Grand Prix
24 	1986 Austrian Grand Prix 	50 	1993 British Grand Prix
25 	1986 Australian Grand Prix 	51 	1993 German Grand Prix
26 	1987 Brazilian Grand Prix 	 	
===Career Results===
|-
| 
| colspan=18| Sabbatical
==Quotes==
"Prost is not a great qualifier, but he has an incredible record of fastest race laps and actually winning races. He has the most staggering ability to win races." - David Hobbs. ESPN. 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix.
"This is where Prost is so good, he knows how to win races. It seems to me that this is a secret that is just alluding Senna."- David Hobbs. ESPN. 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix.
"World Champion, Alain Prost has already taken the number one Ferrari to victory in Brazil. Prost, after all those years at McLaren has settled easily into the Ferrari team." - Andrew Marriott. Eurosport. 1990 San Marino Grand Prix Build-Up.
es:Alain Prost
Category:People
Category:Living people
Category:Team Owners
Category:French Drivers
Category:World Championship Winning Drivers
Category:1955 births
Category:1980 Début Drivers
Category:McLaren Drivers
Category:Renault Drivers
Category:Ferrari Drivers
Category:Williams Drivers
Category:Prost Grand Prix