​THE GENIUS

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​Frenchman Alain Prost was undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses in F1 history. He was fast, consistent, strategic, a great car setup expert (this was confirmed by John Barnard in several interviews, such as in the newspaper O Globo, April 25, 1993, page 54), knew how to conserve tires and equipment, had a "clean" and precise driving style, and rarely got involved in accidents. His calculating style was very similar to that of Emerson Fittipaldi, who was another great F1 driver in the 70s and a great rival of the brilliant Jackie Stewart.

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Of all the champions in F1 history, the Frenchman was the driver with the greatest ability to save equipment and win races. Jo Ramirez, head of McLaren's mechanics, even said: "After the race, you could save Prost's car for the next stage, as you knew it was in perfect mechanical condition."​​​ (Jo Ramirez)

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CAREER BEFORE COMING TO F1:

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Alain Prost has one of the most impressive careers before arriving in F1:

 

• French and European Karting Champion (Junior) 73

• French and European Karting Champion (Senior) 74

• French Renault F Champion 76 (Martini team 12 wins in 13 races)

• European Renault F Champion 77 (6 wins in 16 races)

• 13th place British F3 78 (lost to Piquet, Warwick and Serra) he ran only a few stages this season.

• French F3 Champion 79 (Won 7 of 7 races in the season)

• European F3 Champion 79 (6 wins in 10 races winning the Monaco F3 GP)

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COMPARISON WITH TEAMMATES IN QUALIFYING AND FIRST FINISHES IN F1:

 

In the internal disputes within the teams in the qualifyings, Prost only lost to Senna, who is considered by many to be the fastest driver in the F1 lap, showing the frenchman deserves to be on the list of the fastest in F1 history.

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Leading starts with the same team:

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• Prost 7 x 2 Watson in 80,

• Prost 18 x 13 Arnoux in 81 and 82,

• Prost 13 x 3 Cheever in 83,

• Prost 28 x 2 Lauda in 84 and 85,

• Prost 12 x 4 Rosberg in 86,

• Prost 16 x 0 Johansson in 87,

• Prost 4 x 28 Senna in 88 and 89, the Brazilian was the only driver to defeat Prost in training.

• Prost 8 x 8 Mansell in 90,

• Prost 13 x 3 Alesi in 91,

• Prost 14 x 2 Hill in 93.

 

Some F1 fans mistakenly say that Prost was slow in practice, which is definitely not true.

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First finishes in the same team:

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• Prost 6 x 2 Watson em 80, 

• Prost 13 x 7 Arnoux em 81 e 82,

• Prost 10 x 3 Cheever em 83,

• Prost 21 x 7 Lauda em 84 e 85,

• Prost 13 x 2 Rosberg em 86,

• Prost 10 x 3 Johansson em 87,

• Prost 12 x 18 Senna em 88 e 89, the Brazilian was the only driver to beat Prost in first finishes in races.

• Prost 9 x 7 Mansell em 90,

• Prost 7 x 4 Alesi em 91,

• Prost 9 x 6 Hill em 93.

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Prost was a destroyer of teammates, but when he faced Senna at McLaren, he had many difficulties beating the Brazilian, losing to Senna in starts by 18 to 12.

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SCORING IN RELATION TO F1 TEAMMATES:

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In the overall points of the seasons, Prost beat ALL his teammates by a large margin, with the exception of Senna, who was by a small margin. Of the multiple F1 champions, only Fangio and Prost managed this feat.

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• Prost 6 x 3 Watson em 80 (in the races they run together),

• Prost 77 x 29 Arnoux em 81 e 82,

• Prost 57 x 22 Cheever em 83,

• Prost 144,5 x 86 Lauda em 84 e 85,

• Prost 72 x 22 Rosberg em 86,

• Prost 46 x 30 Johansson em 87,

• Prost 163 x 150 Senna em 88 e 89, the Brazilian was, by far, the teammate who gave the Frenchman the most trouble.

• Prost 71 x 37 Mansell em 90,

• Prost 34 x 21 Alesi em 91,

• Prost 99 x 69 Hill em 93.

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Senna was the only teammate who beat the Frenchman in starts, first finishes, pole positions, and wins, but lost in points because the Brazilian had more retirements and was disqualified twice. Prost wasn't as fast as Senna, but he compensated for this by being more consistent than the Brazilian.

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PRECISION IN DRIVING:

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Early in his career he made mistakes, but from 1983 onwards he improved, and of the F1 champions of the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Frenchman has one of the lowest percentages of retirements due to errors, only behind Fittipaldi and Stewart. It's worth remembering that the turbo cars of the early 80s are considered the most difficult to drive, because of the immense power of the engines, without any electronic assistance:

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• Fittipaldi 1,4%

• Stewart 3,0%

• Prost 3,5%

• Keke Rosberg 6,1%

• Lauda e Rindt 6,4%

• Senna e Hakkinen 7,4%

• Andretti 7,6%

• Alan Jones 7,7%

• Schumacher 7,8%

• Jacques Villeneuve 8,6%

• Piquet 9,3%

• Scheckter 9,7%

• Hunt 10,7%

• Mansell 12,8%

• Damon Hill 14,7%

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In practice for the 1989 US Grand Prix, Prost crashed his car and destroyed the first chassis since he joined McLaren in 1984, and it was probably the only chassis he ever needed to replace for the English team. (Source: F1 Yearbook 1989 pg 28) This is a clear indicator that the Frenchman was a fast driver, but also very precise and with a very low error rate.

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DRIVING IN THE RAIN:

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Some people say Prost was "bad in the rain," but that isn't true. He was extremely conservative, which is why he mixed good races in the rain (Germany '88, Belgium '89, Spain '91, San Marino '93, and Japan '93) with very poor ones (Belgium '85, Britain '88, Europe '93).

 

It's a HUGE MISTAKE to compare him with Senna, to say that he was bad in these weather conditions, because Senna was exceptional on a damp track.

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CHAMPION'S LUCK:

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In addition to being an exceptional driver, Alain Prost was fortunate in seven races involving serious fuel consumption issues, where the car's fuel gauge indicated it had run dry near the end, yet he managed to pace himself and finish the race.

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This happened in his victory at the 1985 British Grand Prix and his 3rd place finish at the 1985 South African Grand Prix, races he completed almost without fuel. At the 1986 German Grand Prix, he ran out of fuel but crossed the finish line pushing the car in 6th place; this small amount of fuel would help him win the title later that year. It also happened at the 1986 San Marino Grand Prix, the 1986 Australian Grand Prix, the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix, and the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix; he won these four races with the onboard computer indicating zero fuel in the tank.

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THE FRENCH HAS DEFEAT 3 WORLD CHAMPIONS AND 2 FUTURE CHAMPIONS ON HIS TEAMS:

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Prost was the only driver in the entire history of F1, who defeated 3 world champions within his team (Lauda in 85, Rosberg in 86 and Senna in 89) and even defeated two drivers who would be world champions in the future (Mansell in 90 and Hill at 93). In fact, Prost was responsible for the retirements of Lauda, ​​Rosberg, and Mansell. However, while Mansell announced his retirement from F1 in 1990, he subsequently signed with Williams for 1991.

 

We should point out that in 1988 and 1989, Senna had four breaks (USA 89, Can 89, Fra 89 and Ita 89) and two disqualifications (Bra 88 and Jap 89) against only two breaks (Ita 88 and Can 89) of Prost, and this made the Frenchman score more than the Brazilian. But none of this takes away from the Frenchman's merits for his immense regularity and ability to save equipment in races.

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Senna x Prost 1988 and 1989:

Starts: 28 x 4

Arrivals: 18 x 12 (Senna was disqualified in Brazil 88 and Japan 89)

Wins: 14 x 11

Breaks: 4 x 2

Disqualifications 2 x 0

Points: 150 x 163

 

The most impressive thing was the way Prost indisputably defeated Niki Lauda (84/85) and Keke Rosberg (86), two drivers with above-average talent, showing that the Frenchman deserves to be in the TOP 5 of the best in history. 

 

When he had a car capable of competing for the title, Prost was either champion or runner-up:

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1983-vice

1984-vice

1985-champion

1986-champion, without having the best car.

1988-vice

1989-champion

1990-vice

1993-champion

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​THE MACHIAVELLI SIDE

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Unfortunately, off the track, the Frenchman had a less-than-admirable side. Prost would stir up intrigue within his teams, play the victim, manipulate the press, and even leverage the influence of his friend Jean-Marie Balestre, president of the FISA, to sway F1 decision-making. Because of these behaviors, Prost was dubbed the "villain of F1" early in his career.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2btxMVTpYk&t=1738s (Reginaldo Leme's Automotor Channel)

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UNETHICAL ATTITUDES:

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​​​Jacques Laffite's wife (1980)

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Prost was a friend of Jacques Laffite, but at some point they had a falling out and Laffite's marriage ended. Nelson Piquet said that Prost went to Laffite's house to break up his marriage and seduce his wife, Bernadette Cottin, and at the time Prost and Bernadette made their relationship public and had a daughter named Victoria Prost.

 

Although Piquet sometimes goes overboard with his statements, there is likely some truth to this story. Nelson added that the Frenchman also made passes at the wives of Gérard Larrousse and Didier Pironi. If true, this speaks volumes about the Frenchman's character.

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​Prost "outwits" Senna and takes Steve Nichols to Ferrari in 1990

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Steve Nichols was Senna's engineer at McLaren, but he didn't have a good professional relationship with Ron Dennis. When Prost moved to Ferrari in 1990, he took advantage of the situation and invited Nichols to be his car engineer for the Italian team.

 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDE2XzqGV6s&t=4215s (Steve Nichols: An Oral History of Formula One's Greatest Era (1 hour and 28 minutes) ​

 

In professional terms there is nothing wrong with this, as everyone has the right to go to any team they want, but instead of inviting his McLaren engineer (Neil Oatley), the Frenchman wanted the engineer of Ayrton Senna.

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The Frenchman stabbed Senna in the back...

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PRESS AND MEDIA MANIPULATIONS:

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It is important to make clear that differing opinions and points of view should be respected. However, if an individual distorts various facts related to F1, this cannot be considered a mere opinion or point of view, rather, it is a distortion of reality.

 

Prost’s accounts regarding various aspects of F1 diverge from the accounts provided by team principals, engineers, drivers, and journalists within the sport. Worse still, there are instances where Prost’s current claims contradict things he himself said in the past, as I will demonstrate below. Therefore, one should be cautious about accepting some of Prost’s statements as the truth.

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Senna entry into McLaren in 1988 (Prost's version)

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In several interviews, including on Nico Rosberg’s podcast, Prost claimed that he was the one who recommended Senna to McLaren for the good of the team, but this version contradicts accounts from that time. During the podcast, Rosberg was sarcastic with the Frenchman, asking him if that had been an act of charity.

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SOURCE: CANAL ENERTO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICr8rWe__mU

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Honda's Yoshitoshi Sakurai participated in the negotiations with McLaren, denied Prost and also said: "We wanted to form a structure with Senna and Prost at McLaren. Alain wanted a weaker driver, Prost wanted Senna at Williams."

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Honda's Nobuhiko Kawamoto worked at McLaren and knew the Frenchman well, he also denied him: "Prost only thinks about him, he doesn't care about anyone, especially when it's another driver." (Source: Ayrton the Hero Revealed by Ernesto Rodrigues pg 165 and 166)

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Since Honda engineers had nothing to gain by lying about this matter and given the Frenchman's track record, all signs point to Prost not telling the truth about this episode.

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It is true that Prost was involved in the driver selection process, but Honda engineers stated that Prost did not want Senna at McLaren. Furthermore, Ron Dennis already wanted to sign Senna and had secured a contract with the Brazilian as early as 1986 for him to race for the team in 1988 (this is confirmed in a report from the newspaper *O Globo* dated July 25, 1986, page 30).

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