Alain Prost

Alain Prost, nicknamed “The Professor,” won four F1 World Championships, missed another by a margin of just 1/2 point (to Niki Lauda in 1984) and, until finally bested by Michael Schumacher in the 2002 season, posted the most race wins of any Formula One driver in history. Prost’s scientific, methodical approach to racing set him apart from many of his contemporaries, and led to a series of magnificent duels with his teammate and arch-rival Aryton Senna.

The action photo below is from the Canadian GP in Prost’s final Formula One season — a race the F1A&G webmaster attended with his ex-wife and then 2-year old son — when Alain came out of retirement to take over Nigel Mansell’s seat at Williams and drove the brilliant FW15C, the last of the “active suspension” F1 cars, to a dominating championship. His victory was overshadowed to a large extent, however, by the brilliant performance of Senna in a less-competitive McLaren, including dazzling wins in several wet races that confirmed Senna’s status as the “rain master.”

Prost retired from F1 after the 1993 season, made a brief reconciliation with Senna just prior to the Brazilian’s untimely 1994 death, and returned to Grand Prix racing in the 1997 season by purchasing the famed French Team Ligier, renamed Prost GP. The Prosts have not proven particularly competitive to date, owing in part to the massive development costs and technical challenge of today’s F1 specifications, but in that regard Prost shares the back of the current F1 grid with Jaguar Racing (formerly Stewart Grand Prix), the offspring of another famed Formula One World Champion, Jackie Stewart.

Other Alain Prost Sites

Formula1.com Hall of Fame
Wikipedia Article
Biography by Dennis David
GP Encyclopedia
AutoSport—F1′s Greatest Drivers
Prostfan.com

Alain Prost Video