Alain Prost

Alain Prost

Prost in 1984

Driver Information

Born
24 February 1955Lorette, Loire, France

Formula One Career Statistics

Nationality
 FRA

Status
Active

Years active
1980–present

Car number
25

Current team
Ligier-Prost (1992–present)

Previous teams
McLaren (1980, 1984–1991)Renault (1981–1983)

Races
208 (206 starts)

World Titles
4 (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989)

Wins
46

Podiums
99

Career points
720.5 (742.5)

Polepositions
26

Fastest laps
33

First entry
1980 Argentine Grand Prix

First win
1981 French Grand Prix

Last win
1991 Canadian Grand Prix

Last entry
1993 San Marino Grand Prix

1993 position
8th (3 pts)

Alain Prost

Full name
Alain Marie Pascal Prost

Date of birth
24 February 1955

Occupation
Team Principal

Employer
Ligier-Prost-Renault

Years active
1992–present

**Alain Marie Pascal Prost** (born 24 February 1955) is a French racing driver and a four-time World Champion. Prost is one of the most successful drivers in the history of Formula One: as well as winning four championships (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989; all for McLaren), he has finished runner up three times (1983, 1984, 1988) and finished third once. His smooth driving style and calculated approach to driving led to him being nicknamed *Le professeur*. In 1992, Prost moved to the Ligier team, where he also became team principal, with his name added to the team name for 1993.

## Early life and career

Alain Prost was born in the département of Loire, close to Saint-Étienne, France, in the commune of Lorette in the town of Saint-Chamond. His parents are André Prost and Marie-Rose Karatchian, who was born in France and is of Armenian descent. Daniel, Prost's younger brother, passed away in September 1986 from cancer. Prost was an athletic and energetic youngster who participated in a variety of sports with enthusiasm, such as football, roller skating, and wrestling. He cracked his nose multiple times as a result. Before learning about kart racing at the age of 14 while on a family vacation, he entertained the idea of becoming a professional football player or a gym instructor. He soon made this new sport his preferred career.

In his teen years, Prost won multiple karting championships. He dropped out of school in 1974 to pursue racing full-time, earning a living as a kart distributor and engine tuner. He received a season in French Formula Renault as compensation for winning the 1975 French Senior Karting Championship. He went on to win the championship and all but one race in 1976.

Prost advanced to Formula Three (F3) in 1978 after winning the European Formula Renault championship in 1977. After winning the French and European F3 titles in 1979, he was already being considered for various Formula One teams. He gave his alternatives a lot of thought before deciding to sign with McLaren for 1980. He shocked the British team by turning down their invitation to participate in the 1979 season's last race at Watkins Glen in a third vehicle, believing that the modest effort would not help him or the team.

Prost decided to say "no" to Marlboro because he believed it would be a mistake to compete in Formula One without being properly prepared: "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."

## Formula One

### McLaren (1980)

In 1980, Prost started his career with Ulsterman John Watson at McLaren, which was managed by Teddy Mayer. On his debut in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he finished in sixth place, earning one point, something achieved by only a handful of drivers (the next driver to do so would be Mark Blundell in 1990). During the season, Prost scored points at Interlagos, Brands Hatch, and Zandvoort to add four more points to his total. Prost tied for the most points with former world winner Emerson Fittipaldi at the end of the Drivers' Championship season, finishing 15th overall. Prost had multiple mishaps despite having a strong rookie campaign. He broke his wrist during practice at Kyalami and got a concussion during practice at Watkins Glen. A week before, he had also withdrawn from the previous round in Montreal due to a problem with his rear suspension. Despite having two years left on his deal, he signed a contract with Renault at the end of the season, leaving McLaren behind. Prost has stated that he left the team because he believed he was being held accountable for some of the incidents and because of the numerous breakages on the car.

### Renault (1981–1983)

For 1981, Prost was paired with René Arnoux, another Frenchman. According to motor sports writer Nigel Roebuck, Prost and Arnoux had issues right from the beginning of the season due to Prost's speedier start than his more seasoned partner. Due to incidents with Andrea de Cesaris in Long Beach and Didier Pironi in Jacarepaguá, he was unable to finish the first two Grands Prix; nonetheless, he achieved his maiden podium result in Buenos Aires. Following his elimination from the following four races, he went on to win his maiden Formula One race at the French Grand Prix held on the quick Dijon circuit, finishing two seconds ahead of his former teammate John Watson. Prost's first victory was noteworthy mostly because it altered his perspective. "Before, you thought you could do it," he replied. "Now you know you can." Prost started the following five races in the lead, went on to win two more, secured his first pole position in Germany, and placed third each time he finished a race. In addition to his victories in Holland and Italy, he placed fifth in the Drivers' Championship, trailing champion Nelson Piquet by seven points.

Prost won the first two Grands Prix of the 1982 season in Brazil, where he finished third but was given the win when Piquet (first) and Keke Rosberg (second) were disqualified, and in South Africa, where Prost overcame losing a wheel. He did not win again, but he did finish in the points on four more times. Prost finished in fourth place for the Drivers' Championship, improving upon his ninth-place finish the year before despite retiring from seven races. The connection between him and Arnoux worsened following the French Grand Prix. Prost thinks that Arnoux, the winner of the race, broke their pre-race promise to help him win. He also had a bad relationship with the French press. He has since commented that:

> "When I went to Renault the journalists wrote good things about me, but by 1982 I had become the bad guy. I think, to be honest, I had made the mistake of winning! The French don't really like winners."
>
>

In 1983, Arnoux departed from Renault, and Eddie Cheever, an American, took over as Prost's partner. It was purportedly Renault's intention to increase road car sales in North America, given three of the season's fifteen races took place there. Throughout the season, Prost won four more races for Renault and came in second place, two points behind Nelson Piquet, in the Drivers' Championship. In the final races of the season, Piquet and the Brabham team overtook Prost and Renault. Prost found himself increasingly at clashes with Renault's management, who used him as a scapegoat for the team's failure to win a championship. Prost felt the company had developed the car too conservatively. Furthermore, the French supporters remembered the intense altercation that resulted in their team's favourite, Arnoux, quitting. During the last race, Prost stated in an interview with ESPN that he "didn't lose by my own fault" and that his car was "not competitive". Prost was dismissed by Renault just two days after the race in South Africa. Within a few days, he re-signed with McLaren for the 1984 season, and he moved his family to Switzerland when Prost's two cars—a Mercedes-Benz and a second—were destroyed by workmen at the Renault factory.

### Return to McLaren (1984–1991)

#### 1984–1986

In 1984, Prost joined Niki Lauda, the two-time world champion, at McLaren, which was now run by Ron Dennis. Prost drove the 1.5-litre TAG-Porsche V6 engined McLaren MP4/2, designed by John Barnard. He lost the world championship to Lauda in the final race of the season in Portugal by half a point, despite winning seven races to Lauda's five, including winning in Portugal. The half-point came from the Monaco Grand Prix, where Prost was leading despite Ayrton Senna (Toleman) and Stefan Bellof (Tyrrell) closing in on him quickly, when Clerk of the Course Jacky Ickx stopped the race at half distance due to heavy rain, which was controversial because Ickx displayed the red flag without consulting race officials. Under Formula One regulations, Prost received only half of the nine points normally awarded for a victory. Prost's seven wins in 1984 equalled the record set by Jim Clark in 1963.

In 1985 Prost became the first French Formula One World Champion. During the season, he won five of the sixteen Grands Prix. He also won the San Marino Grand Prix, but was disqualified after his car was discovered to be 2 kg (4.41 lb) underweight during post-race inspection. Prost won by 20 points over his closest competitor, Michele Alboreto. In France, Prost's performance in 1985 earned him the Légion d'honneur.

Niki Lauda announced his retirement at the end of 1985, and was replaced at McLaren by 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg for 1986. Despite his car labouring against the Honda-powered Williams cars piloted by Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, Prost successfully retained his title. Until the late stages of the 1986 season's final race, the Australian Grand Prix, Prost appeared to be on track to finish second in the Championship, behind Mansell. Prost had the same number of victories as Piquet, but he had four second-place finishes to Piquet's three, putting him second heading into the final race. While running third behind Piquet, and directly behind Prost on the road (3rd was all he needed to win the title), Mansell suffered a rear tyre failure at 180 mph (290 km/h) and crashed out. The Williams crew then pitted Piquet to change tyres as a precautionary measure, although Prost had already pitted due to a puncture and did not need to change his tyres again. He then led a charging Piquet to the chequered flag and the Championship. Prost became the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1960 to retain the title.

Another notable race for Prost that year was the San Marino Grand Prix. He was on his way to victory when three corners from the chequered flag, his car ran out of petrol. He managed to keep the car running just long enough to slip over the line and win the race by frantically swerving the car back and forth to spill the remaining drops of fuel into the pickup. After the race, Prost stated that when his car began to run dry, he immediately thought to himself, "shit, I'm going to lose this race again," referring to his 1985 disqualification at Imola. It happened again at the German Grand Prix: while running in fourth place, Prost's car ran out of fuel on the final lap's finishing straight. Instead of retiring at a vital juncture in the season, Prost got out of his car and attempted to push it to the finish, to rousing cheers from the spectators. But the finish line was too far away, and he never made it. He was finally classified sixth in the race, as the seventh-placed car (Derek Warwick's Brabham-BMW) was a lap behind. Prost also finished sixth in the Belgian Grand Prix, when he was involved in a collision with Gerhard Berger in the Benetton. As a result, the car's front suspension and engine mountings were bent, causing it to handle poorly. It would act one way in the left hand corners and another in the right hand corners. McLaren Technical Director John Barnard later stated that the car was "bent like a banana" during the team's post-race inspection.

#### 1987

This article is incomplete. If you'd like to help, please add the relevant information.

## Formula One Statistical Overview

### Formula One Record

*Numbers not in brackets are the championship points scored, while numbers in brackets refer to the total points scored.*

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.

### Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in **bold** indicate pole position; races in *italics* indicate fastest lap)

Notes

* ‡ – Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
* † – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
* \* – Season still in progress.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Up until 1990, not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (see list of points scoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

**1951**: J. M. Fangio
**1952**: A. Ascari
**1953**: A. Ascari
**1954**: J. M. Fangio
**1955**: J. M. Fangio
**1956**: J. M. Fangio
**1957**: J. M. Fangio
**1958**: M. Hawthorn
**1959**: J. Brabham
**1961**: P. Hill
**1962**: G. Hill
**1963**: J. Clark
**1964**: J. Surtees
**1965**: J. Clark
**1966**: J. Brabham
**1967**: D. Hulme
**1968**: G. Hill
**1969**: J. Stewart
**1971**: J. Stewart
**1972**: E. Fittipaldi
**1973**: J. Stewart
**1974**: E. Fittipaldi
**1975**: N. Lauda
**1976**: J. Hunt
**1977**: N. Lauda
**1978**: M. Andretti
**1979**: J. Scheckter
**1981**: N. Piquet
**1982**: K. Rosberg
**1983**: N. Piquet
**1984**: N. Lauda
**1985**: **A. Prost**
**1986**: **A. Prost**
**1987**: **A. Prost**
**1988**: A. Senna
**1989**: **A. Prost**
**1991**: J. Davies
**1992**: N. Mansell