Formula 1-Alain Prost

Alain Prost's Early Life & Career

Alain Prost’s driving career began in 1977. He was just 19 years old.

In his first seven seasons, he won the 1979 French Formula 3 title and three European F3 championships.

He then spent two years in sports car racing with Renault and later took up touring cars before the end of 1982.

Throughout his career, he had three teammates who would eventually become Formula One champions with him: Keke Rosberg, Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill.

His Formula One debut was a successful one at that. He finished second to Jody Scheckter in 1980 and ended the season as runner-up to world champion Alan Jones.

Within four years, he became a world champion himself by winning his first title in 1985 after a close battle with Alain Prost (his teammate), Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet; the latter two were both part of the championship battle but were no match for Prost and Lauda at the end of the season.

He retired from Formula One at the end of 1991 after having finished third in 1990 and 1991.

The Crash at Suzuka

At the Japanese Grand Prix in 1990, Prost was leading the race but ran out of fuel on the last lap and was forced to push his McLaren. This allowed Ayrton Senna to get ahead and win.

The next time they met, in 1991, Prost refused to come out of the McLaren's pit box which led to an argument with Senna. After this incident, Senna began chasing Prost down on every straight but when he got close enough to try a pass, he instead chose to drive alongside Prost and didn't finish off the pass. Eventually, Prost crashed into a wall at 190 mph and his car rolled over several times before coming to a stop upside down. He had been going much faster than Senna (around 200 mph) so he had less room for error when he lost control of his car.

It took six minutes for him to extricate himself from the wreckage because he was wearing a heavily padded racing suit which prevented him from getting out through the door of his flipped car. As a result, he suffered instantaneously broken leg bones as well as other serious injuries that wouldn't have happened if not for him wearing such heavy padding.

The 1990s and Final Formula One Races

The 1990s were a tough time for Prost. He was considered as a nearly invincible champion and he had to face the emerging Michael Schumacher in the new Formula One, with no testing opportunities to prepare himself.

At the end of 1991, Prost retired from Formula One competition.

He attempted to return to McLaren in 1996 but he was not successful, and he decided to retire from all forms of motorsport at that point.

Alain Prost the Person

He was born in the town of Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez, to the southwest of Lyon.

He is regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers ever. He won four world championships and 51 Grands Prix from 1980 to 1991. His first three titles came consecutively (1985–1987), a feat only matched by Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn and Jack Brabham.

Prost participated in 113 Grand Prix races and won 12 of them with a total 15 podiums over his career. He competed for various teams such as Renault (1980–1981), McLaren (1984–1986), Ferrari (1987–1991) before he retired at the end of 1991.

After Formula 1

After retiring from Formula One Prost later became a TV commentator for the French cable TV channel Canal Plus. He is now a part-owner of the Renault F1 Team and in 2006 was entrusted with managing the company's motorsport interests.

Prost has three children: Nicolas, Marie and Laurence.

Conclusion

Formula One legend Alain Prost is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, winning four world championships and 29 Grands Prix. He began racing professionally in 1979, entering Formula Renault and Formula Three before being given his break in F1 at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1980.

Prost's career was not without controversy. The Frenchman was involved in a number of on-track incidents with other drivers, including Ayrton Senna. The most harrowing of these moments came at the end of the 1988 Japanese Grand Prix when Prost tried to overtake the Brazilian on the last lap but crashed into the latter, which led Senna to say that Prost was "no gentleman."

Alain Prost retired from racing in 1993. His last F1 race was in 1993 where he finished third at the Japanese Grand Prix. After retiring, Prost became a TV commentator for French channel TF1. He also founded his own all-electric race car series called ePrix.