Alain Prost

Alain Marie Pascal Prost (born 24 February 1955) is a French former racing driver of Armenian origin, regarded as one of the best Formula One drivers of all time. He was known as "The Professor" for his intellectual approach to competition. Though it was not a name he particularly cared for, he would admit later that it was an appropriate summation of his approach to his racing.

He won the Formula One World Championship in 1992, driving for Williams.

He employed a smooth, relaxed style behind the wheel, deliberately modelling himself on personal heroes like Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark.

He is the father of fellow racing driver Nicolas Prost.

Alain Prost, pictured in 1992

Early Career

Having excelled in football, wrestling and roller skating as a boy, Prost's first steps into motorsport came on a family holiday when he took part in go-karting at the age of 14 - which convinced him this was his future career of choice. After leaving school in 1974, Prost began supporting himself in karting by tuning and selling karts from his home. During this time, Prost frequently battled with the likes of Philippe Streiff, Philippe Alliot and Guillaume Gauthier - the latter of which he had a storied rivalry with for many years. Prost - along with Gauthier - were considered the best karters in the country by the end of 1975 and they both graduated to French Formula Renault in 1976. The 1976 French Formula Renault title was bitterly fought, with Prost only just beating Gauthier by 7 wins to 6. Prost then moved on to Formula Renault Europe for 1977 which he'd also win.

Formula One

1979: Ligier

Prost would get his first taste of Formula One machinery in a competitive environment when Guy Ligier offered him the chance to take part in the Canadian Grand Prix. Despite a strong showing, Prost would retire from his maiden Grand Prix.

1980-1981: Renault

As expected, Prost signed a contract with the government-backed Renault team for 1980. Powered by the Renault-Gordini EF1 V6 turbo engine, the car was powerful yet unreliable, with Prost only finishing 3 races of 16 in his first full season with the team. Being one of the only turbocharged teams on the grid gave a competitive advantage, with Prost taking two wins in his time at Renault as part of 8 podiums.

However, the Renault cars were aerodynamically behind the championship contenders, and Renault found themselves unable to consistently challenge for wins. Frustrated with the lack of development to the car, and with other teams adopting turbocharged power for the first time, Prost began to look elsewhere.

1982-: First stint at Williams

In the winter of 1981 Prost rejected a contract extension from Renault and joined the Williams team to partner Gilles Villeneuve, allegedly becoming one of the highest paid drivers in the sport. This decision immediately paid off, with Prost's knack of coaxing a car towards the finish allowing him to go on a mid-season run of 8 podiums in 10 races, including two victories. Prost would go into the final round of 1982 at Caesars Palace in contention for the World Championship for the first time in his career.

Midway into the race, Prost was leading the race by a considerable margin and was on track to seal his first World Championship. However, Prost would attempt to lap the March of Derek Daly around the outside. Running onto the marbles, Prost lost control of the car, and collected the Brabham of Nelson Piquet, sending both cars out of the race and the 1982 World Driver's Championship into the hands of Tyrrell's Harvey Jones.

Prost entered the second year of his contract in 1983 eager to steal a march on the World Championship. However, as he would admit in a later interview, Prost started the season by overdriving the car and retiring from the first three rounds of the championship. Heading into the Swiss Grand Prix, the fifth round of the season, Prost had only 4 points to his name to his team-mate Villeneuve's 18, including two wins. On lap 41, Prost was leading the race by 21 seconds when Jacques Godard rejoined the track at the final corner, right in front of Prost's Williams. With no time to avoid a collision, Prost's car struck the Ligier at 140 miles per hour, severing Godard's car in two. Under red flag conditions, Prost would be extracted from the car and taken to the nearby hospital. With the damage to the track deemed impossible to repair in the remaining time, the race would not be restarted, with Prost declared the winner on countback.

Whilst in hospital, Prost would learn that Godard had to have part of his left leg amputated as part of the collision. Feeling a sense of responsibility, Prost would frequently visit Godard as he recovered from his injuries, forming a lasting friendship. The collision had a profound effect on Prost who never forgot the sight of the Ligier in front of him, the crash firming his views on the danger of contemporary Formula One cars driving on such narrow and fast race tracks such as Dijon-Prenois. His injuries were a minor neck injury and two broken feet; he was able to return after missing four races, including the French Grand Prix.

1987-1989: Ferrari

By 1987 Prost was driving for Ferrari alongside Italian Michele Alboreto. The Maranello team were still yet to emerge from their mid-1980s slump that had plagued them in previous years in the early stages of the season, with the team only able to score decent points when the likes of McLaren, Lotus and Williams faltered. Prost took his first win of the season in the Hungarian Grand Prix which he followed up two races later with a hugely popular victory in front of the tifosi at the Italian Grand Prix. Prost finished the 1987 season in sixth overall as McLaren's Gerhard Berger romped his way to the title.

Prost was joined by increasingly popular Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna in 1988. The car was a real step forward from the year before and Prost had a five race run of podiums at the start of the season - two of which were wins. Prost won one more race that season for third in the championship but he and the team were still well behind the McLaren squad.

Prost and Senna stuck together in 1989 with the Ferrari seemingly the car to beat in the early stages of the season. Senna racked up a number of wins at the beginning of the season while Prost struggled in a car which was not suited to his smooth driving style. Prost had begun to theorise that the team was gearing themselves more towards Senna which effectively split the garage in two. Prost did win three races this season - enough for third overall - but Senna raced off into the distance taking the title at a canter. This infuriated Prost who opted to leave the team at the end of the season.

1990-1992: Second stint at Williams

Prost and Nigel Mansell swapped seats in 1990 with the Frenchman replacing him at the Canon Williams Renault Team alongside Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler. The all-French lineup was brokered by Renault who saw great marketing value in the two best French drivers alongside each other. Prost started well, taking a win in the third race of the season at the Pacific Grand Prix but this would prove to be his only win of the year with Williams being surpassed by Ferrari, McLaren and now Benetton Arrows. Prost finished the 1991 season in fifth place, one place ahead of Voeckler.

The all-French lineup continued into 1991 and Prost begun well with three straight poles in the opening races. Prost also took a win in the Brazilian Grand Prix. 1991 would however turn into a frustrating season, the Williams cars frequently dominating qualifying but would fade away in the races, their Pirelli tyres not being at the standard of the rival Goodyear tyres in race trim. Prost would not win again that year and coupled with teammate Voeckler's sacking (replaced with young Brit Jack Christopherson) meant that the year was generally one to forget for the team. Prost would be left fourth in the championship, having voluntarily withdrawn from the rain-afflicted Australian Grand Prix that year due to the torrential conditions.

1992 however was a completely different story. Prost would dominate the proceedings in the FW14B, taking 9 victories on his way to a championship victory. His only challenger was teammate Christopherson who he beat easily, wrapping up the title at the Italian Grand Prix.

Prost would then announce that he would retire from Formula One at the end of 1992, feeling he had achieved everything that he had wanted.

Complete Formula One World Championship Grand Prix Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1979	Ligier Gitanes	Ligier JS11	Matra MS73 3.0 V12	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	EUR	SMR	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN Ret	USA	—	0
1980	Équipe Renault Elf	Renault RS10B	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	USW Ret	ESP 5	BEL Ret	MON Ret	MEX 1	SMR Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 3	CPL Ret	DUB Ret		7th	15
1981	Équipe Renault Elf	Renault RE30	Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t	ARG 3	RSA 1	BRA 3	USW Ret	ESP 7†	BEL WD	MON Ret	SMR Ret	MEX 2	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER Ret	AUT 2	SUI Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 4	CPL Ret	5th	36
1982	Canon Williams Honda Team	Williams FW09	Honda RA163E 1.5 V6t	RSA Ret	BRA 1	USW Ret	SMR 14†	BEL 2	MON 2	MEX 1	DET 2	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 1	AUT Ret	EUR 3	ITA 3	CAN Ret	CPL Ret		2nd	59
1987	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	Ferrari F1/87	Ferrari 033D 1.5 V6t	AUS 3	SMR Ret	BEL 5	MON Ret	CAN Ret	DET Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER Ret	HUN 1	YUG Ret	ITA 1	POR 18†	EUR Ret	JPN Ret	MEX 2		6th	33
1988	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	Ferrari F1/88	Ferrari 033E 1.5 V6t	BRA 1	SMR 2	MON 2	MEX 3	CAN 1	DET Ret	FRA 3	GBR 4	GER 1	HUN 3	YUG 4	SOV 2	ITA Ret	BEL Ret	JPN 2	AUS Ret		3rd	66 (69)
1989	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	Ferrari 640	Ferrari 035/5 3.5 V12	BRA 16†	SMR 4	MON Ret	FRA 3	USA Ret	CAN 2	GBR 1	GER Ret	HUN 1	SOV Ret	POR Ret	ITA 2	BEL 3	JPN 3	AUS 1	MEX Ret		3rd	56
1990	Canon Williams Renault Team	Williams FW13	Renault RS2 3.5 V10	USA Ret	BRA 3	PAC 1	SMR 3	MON Ret	CAN 7	MEX 6	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER 4	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN 4	AUS 7		5th	33
1991	Canon Williams Renault Team	Williams FW14	Renault RS3 3.5 V10	USA 5	BRA 1	PAC 2	SMR Ret	MON 8	CAN 4	MEX 5	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER 2	HUN Ret	BEL 4	ITA Ret	POR 3	ESP 3	JPN 6	AUS DNS	4th	42
1992	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW14B	Renault RS4 3.5 V10	RSA 1	MEX 8†	BRA 4	PAC 1	ESP Ret	SMR 1	MON 1	CAN 1	FRA 1	GBR 2	GER 1	HUN 1	BEL 2	ITA 1	POR Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 3	1st	109

Sporting Accolades
Preceded by: Brendon Cassidy	Formula One World Champion 1992	Succeeded by: Chris Dagnall