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121-727: Alain Marie Pascal Prost ( French pronunciation: [alɛ̃ pʁɔst] ; born 24 February 1955) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1980 to 1993 . Nicknamed " The Professor ", Prost won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and – at the time of his retirement in 1993  – held the records for most wins (51), fastest laps (41), and podium finishes (106). Born in Lorette, Loire , Prost took up karting at 14, winning

242-406: A transformative shift, echoing past pivots. The industry, much like the cars it champions , has had to navigate through a global pandemic and a persistent chip shortage, each threatening to derail production schedules . At the same time, a new course is being charted towards an electric future, a dramatic change in direction that is challenging the old guard of gasoline engines. There is also

363-631: A "manufacturer's" logo and "vehicle name", yet use components produced by another automobile manufacturer. There are also other stock car governing bodies, most notably the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). In the UK, British Stock car racing is also referred to as "Short Circuit Racing". UK Stock car racing started in the 1950s and grew rapidly through the 1960s and 1970s. Events take place on shale or tarmac tracks – usually around 1/4 mile long. There are around 35 tracks in

484-555: A 1.6 litre Ford engine , Prost sat on pole for the race with a time of 39.18. He then led every lap to win what would be the first of 3 Australian Grand Prix wins. He finished 15.32 seconds clear of Laffite, with 1981 Australian Grand Prix winner, young Brazilian driver Roberto Moreno finishing third. Arnoux left Renault in 1983 and American Eddie Cheever replaced him as Prost's partner, allegedly because of Renault's desire to sell more road cars in North America (three of

605-768: A better idea to organise a test." After winning the European Formula Three title, Prost was courted by Formula One teams McLaren , Brabham , and Ligier . After impressing McLaren team boss Teddy Mayer at a test drive, McLaren signed him for the 1980 season . He was paired with Ulsterman John Watson . Prost's career started promisingly. On his debut in Buenos Aires , he accomplished the rare achievement of scoring in his first race, earning one point for finishing sixth. From 1973 to 1993, only two other drivers earned points in their maiden race ( Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi ). However, Prost finished 15th in

726-473: A commanding 20-point lead in the Drivers' Championship. Prost threw salt in the wound by dropping his winner's trophy into the crowd of cheering Ferrari fans, a major taboo at McLaren. Following the tumult of the weekend, Senna opportunistically encouraged McLaren to fire Prost immediately, and Ferrari offered to accommodate the move by switching Prost with Ferrari's Gerhard Berger for the final four weeks of

847-529: A compromise, the 38-year-old Prost agreed to retire after the 1993 season, provided that Williams paid him his agreed-upon salary for the 1994 season. This cleared the way for Senna to join Williams in 1994. Prost finished on the podium in his final race ( Adelaide 1993). Following the race, Senna embraced him, which Prost found surprising, as Senna had declined a handshake at the previous race. McLaren tempted Prost to unretire by offering him Senna's old seat for

968-456: A furniture store. Prost had one older brother called Daniel, who died of cancer in September 1986. Prost was an active and athletic child, who enthusiastically took part in diverse sports, including wrestling , roller skating and football . In doing so he broke his nose several times. He considered careers as a gym instructor or a professional footballer before he discovered kart racing at

1089-734: A growing number of events for electric racing cars, such as the Formula E , the Eco Grand Prix or the Electric GT Championship . In single-seater ( open-wheel ) racing, the wheels are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front and rear to produce downforce and enhance adhesion to the track. The most popular varieties of open-wheel road racing are Formula One (F1), the IndyCar Series and Super Formula . In Europe and Asia, open-wheeled racing

1210-665: A hat. Matters came to a head at the Italian Grand Prix , where Prost burned his bridges with both McLaren and Honda. In advance of the Italian Grand Prix, he announced that he would drive for Ferrari in 1990. Following his announcement, McLaren provided full support to Senna's title chase. Although Prost was the championship leader and would have been the natural candidate for priority, at Monza McLaren gave Prost one car and four or five mechanics, while Senna received two cars and 20 assistants. In addition, while

1331-707: A lap at 388 km/h (241 mph). The series' biggest race is the Indianapolis 500 , which is commonly referred to as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" due to being the longest continuously run race in the series and having the largest crowd for a single-day sporting event (350,000+). The other major international single-seater racing series is Formula 2 (formerly known as Formula 3000 and GP2 Series ). Regional series include Super Formula and Formula V6 Asia (specifically in Asia), Formula Renault 3.5 (also known as

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1452-482: A much easier time following and passing than in open-wheel racing . It often features full-contact racing with subtle bumping and nudging due to the small speed differentials and large grids. The major touring car championships conducted worldwide are the Supercars Championship (Australia), British Touring Car Championship , Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), World Touring Car Championship and

1573-559: A person]," Senna was not penalized. Prost finished the season seven points behind Senna, and his Ferrari team were runners-up to McLaren in the Constructors' Championship. At the end of the season, Mansell left the Scuderia to rejoin a resurgent Williams team, citing his unstable relationship with Prost. Although Mansell had supported Prost during the 1989 Prost-Honda controversy, as reigning world champion, Prost had joined Ferrari as

1694-528: A prescribed route occurred at 4:30 A.M. on August 30, 1867, between Ashton-under-Lyne and Old Trafford , England, a distance of 8 mi (13 km). It was won by the carriage of Isaac Watt Boulton . Internal combustion auto racing events began soon after the construction of the first successful gasoline -fueled automobiles. The first organized contest was on April 28, 1887, by the chief editor of Paris publication Le Vélocipède , Monsieur Fossier. It ran 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Neuilly Bridge to

1815-565: A puncture and did not need to change his tyres again. He then held the lead ahead of a charging Piquet to the chequered flag and the Championship. Prost became the first driver to retain the title since Jack Brabham in 1960. Another memorable race that year for Prost was at the San Marino Grand Prix . He was cruising to victory when his car began to run out of fuel three corners from the chequered flag. Frantically weaving

1936-412: A race like this the feeling is very, very good. There have been times when I have been flat-out to finish sixth, but you can't see that from the outside. In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that's motor racing. So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport

2057-426: A small, low-cost machine on small tracks. Many of the current top drivers began their careers in karts. Formula Ford represents the most popular first open-wheel category for up-and-coming drivers stepping up from karts. The series is still the preferred option, as it has introduced an aero package and slicks, allowing the junior drivers to gain experience in a race car with dynamics closer to F1. The Star Mazda Series

2178-596: A watershed moment for Formula One, as Honda ended its relationship with defending champion Williams and brought their all-conquering RA16 engines to Prost's McLaren. Going into 1988, it was understood that any team that wanted Honda engines would have to sign one of the two Brazilian drivers favored by Honda (which coveted the South American car market): three-time world champion Nelson Piquet , or rising star Ayrton Senna . When McLaren asked Prost for his opinion, Prost suggested Senna, citing his youth and talent. It

2299-823: Is NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). NASCAR's premier series is the NASCAR Cup Series , its most famous races being the Daytona 500 , the Southern 500 , the Coca-Cola 600 , and the Brickyard 400 . NASCAR also runs several feeder series, including the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series (a pickup truck racing series). The series conduct races across the entire continental United States . NASCAR also sanctions series outside of

2420-651: Is a worldwide series that runs only street circuit and race tracks . These cars are heavily based on technology and their aerodynamics. The speed record was set in 2005 by Juan Pablo Montoya hitting 373 km/h (232 mph). Some of the most prominent races are the Monaco Grand Prix, the Italian Grand Prix , and the British Grand Prix . The season ends with the crowning of the World Championship for drivers and constructors. In

2541-650: Is another entry-level series. Indy Lights represent the last step on the Road to Indy , being less powerful and lighter than an IndyCar racer. Students at colleges and universities can also take part in single-seater racing through the Formula SAE competition, which involves designing and building a single-seater car in a multidisciplinary team and racing it at the competition. This also develops other soft skills, such as teamwork, while promoting motorsport and engineering. The world's first all-female Formula racing team

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2662-615: Is commonly referred to as 'Formula', with appropriate hierarchical suffixes. In North America, the 'Formula' terminology is not followed (with the exception of F1). The sport is usually arranged to follow an international format (such as F1), a regional format (such as the Formula 3 Euro Series), and/or a domestic, or country-specific, format (such as the German Formula 3 championship, or the British Formula Ford). F1

2783-923: Is the FIA World Endurance Championship . The main series for GT car racing is the GT World Challenge Europe , divided into two separate championships: the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup . This series has formed after the folding of the various FIA GT championships. The prevailing classes of GT cars are GT3 , GT4 and GT2 class cars. GT2 cars have powerful engines, often exceeding 600 horsepower. However, they have less downforce than GT3 cars and also have less driver aids. GT3 cars are far and away

2904-447: Is the long term. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race. Prost finished the 1987 season in fourth place in the championship behind Piquet , Mansell and Lotus driver Ayrton Senna . Prost finished 30 points behind champion Nelson Piquet. Other than his debut season in 1980 and 1991 , it was the furthest away he would finish a season from the championship lead. Despite a slightly disappointing 1987 season, nevertheless by

3025-522: Is undergoing a period of transition, but is still the longest-running road racing series in the U.S. The National Auto Sport Association also provides a venue for amateurs to compete in home-built factory-derived vehicles on various local circuits. In sports car racing, production-derived versions of two-seat sports cars , also known as grand tourers (GTs), and purpose-built sports prototype cars compete within their respective classes on closed circuits. The premier championship series of sports car racing

3146-632: The 1979 FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Oreca . Prost signed for McLaren in 1980 , making his Formula One debut at the Argentine Grand Prix , where he finished sixth. He moved to Renault in 1981 , taking his maiden victory at his home Grand Prix in France , with further wins in the Netherlands and Italy . After achieving multiple race wins in his 1982 campaign with Renault, Prost finished runner-up to Nelson Piquet in

3267-434: The 1983 World Drivers' Championship after retiring with a turbo failure in the title decider . Prost was sacked by Renault two days later for his post-season comments and moved back to McLaren for the 1984 season, where he finished runner-up to teammate Niki Lauda by a record half-point . In 1985 , Prost won his maiden title with McLaren, becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from France . He defended his title

3388-402: The 2001 season . For his own part, Prost believed that had Ayrton Senna not died in 1994 , he would have broken Prost's wins record first.) In addition, while Senna held the record for most career pole positions at Prost's retirement, Prost was superb on race day and held the record for most career fastest laps (41) until 2001, when Schumacher broke that record as well. Prost currently shares

3509-680: The 24 Hours of Le Mans , begun in 1923. It is run by the Automobile Club of the West (ACO). Team Ferrari won the race in 2023. With auto construction and racing dominated by France, the French automobile club ACF staged a number of major international races, usually from or to Paris, connecting with another major city, in France or elsewhere in Europe. Aspendale Racecourse , in Australia,

3630-634: The 24 Hours of Le Mans , the Rolex 24 at Daytona , 24 Hours of Spa -Franchorchamps, the 12 Hours of Sebring , the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen , and the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta . There is also the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring on the famed Nordschleife track and the Dubai 24 Hour , which is aimed at GT3 and below cars with a mixture of professional and pro-am drivers. Production-car racing, otherwise known as "showroom stock" in

3751-713: The Andros Trophy , competing from 2003 to 2012. He was the co-owner of Renault e.dams in Formula E until 2018, winning three consecutive Teams' Championships from 2014–15 to 2016–17 . Prost was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999. Alain Prost was born in the commune of Lorette near the town of Saint-Chamond , in the département of Loire close to Saint-Étienne , France to André Prost and Marie-Rose Karatchian, born in France of Armenian descent. His father ran

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3872-548: The Belgian Grand Prix , where he collided with Gerhard Berger in the Benetton. As a result, the car's front suspension and engine mountings were bent, which badly affected its handling. It would behave one way in left hand corners and a completely different way in right hand corners. McLaren Technical Director John Barnard said afterwards that the car was "bent like a banana" upon the teams' post-race inspection of

3993-553: The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship starting in 2014. These races are often conducted over long distances, at least 1,000 km (621 mi), and cars are driven by teams of two or more drivers, switching every few hours. Due to the performance difference between production-based sports cars and purpose-built sports prototypes, one race usually involves several racing classes, each fighting for its own championship. Famous sports car races include

4114-590: The World Touring Car Cup . The European Touring Car Cup is a one-day event open to Super 2000 specification touring cars from Europe's many national championships. While Super GT traces its lineage to the now-defunct JGTC , the cars are much more similar to GT3 race cars than proper touring cars, and also have much more aggressive aerodynamics. The Sports Car Club of America 's SPEED World Challenge Touring Car and GT championships are dominant in North America. America's historic Trans-Am Series

4235-489: The final race of the 1979 season , Paddy McNally and John Hogan of Marlboro ( McLaren 's lead sponsor) offered to cover the costs of a third McLaren car so that Prost could make an early Formula One debut, but Prost declined the cameo appearance, reasoning that it would be a mistake to debut in Formula One without being fully prepared: "I didn't know Watkins Glen and I didn't know the car. I said I thought it would be

4356-601: The following season , amidst a close title battle with Piquet and Nigel Mansell . After winning several races in 1987 , Prost was partnered by Ayrton Senna . Together, they won all but one of the Grands Prix in 1988  – driving the Honda-powered MP4/4  – with Senna taking the title by three points. Their fierce rivalry culminated in title-deciding collisions at Suzuka in 1989 and 1990 , despite Prost's move to Ferrari in

4477-678: The junior direct-drive Karting World Cup four years later, and progressing to junior formulae in 1976. Prost won his first title at the Formula Renault National Championship that year, prior to winning the Challenge de Formule Renault Europe in 1977. Replaced by the French Formula Three Championship the following season, he successfully defended his titles in 1978 and 1979. Prost's junior career culminated in his victory at

4598-472: The 1980s and 1990s all over the United States. In North America, stock car racing is the most popular form of auto racing. Primarily raced on oval tracks , stock cars vaguely resemble production cars, but are in fact purpose-built racing machines that are built to tight specifications and, together with touring cars, also called Silhouette racing cars . The largest stock car racing governing body

4719-472: The 1984 season within days and moved his family home to Switzerland after Renault factory workers burned the second of 2 of Prost's cars, one of them being a Mercedes-Benz. Prost joined double world champion Niki Lauda at McLaren in 1984 , driving the John Barnard designed McLaren MP4/2 which used a 1.5 litre TAG - Porsche V6 engine . He lost the world championship to Lauda in the final race of

4840-550: The 1988 season, Kawamoto was promoted to a position at Honda headquarters. McLaren's domination continued throughout 1989 , and with no meaningful outside competition, Prost and Senna's title fight turned inwards. Prost accused Senna of dangerous driving and dishonorable behavior. After Imola , the two drivers were no longer on speaking terms. Prost also accused Senna of receiving unwarranted favoritism from McLaren-Honda. His suspicions were inflamed when Honda sent McLaren an engine crate marked "Special - For Ayrton." After Prost (who

4961-419: The 1991 scoring system, Senna took the title by three points under the rules of the day – only the 11 best results from the season counted toward a driver's championship total, a rule that in practice valued Senna's wins over Prost's consistent podiums. Senna nearly shunted an overtaking Prost into the pit wall at Estoril , but other than that, the two competitors generally raced cleanly on track that year. Over

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5082-456: The 1991 season. He was replaced by Italian driver Gianni Morbidelli for the 1991 Australian Grand Prix and by another Italian, Ivan Capelli , for the following season. Prost spent the 1992 season on sabbatical. Ligier offered him a seat, and he eventually performed pre-season testing for the team in early 1992, but Ferrari paid him a significant amount of money to take the year off. During this season, Nigel Mansell put up record numbers in

5203-436: The 1994 season, but while Senna encouraged Prost to take the offer, Prost was unimpressed by a test-drive of the 1994 car and retired for good. Prost used a helmet design based on the three colours of the French flag, blue, white and red, with his name along the side. During his early career Prost used a basic design of white all over with some blue detail around the visor (blue helmet with a white 180° flipped Y and red lines in

5324-462: The 24 hours of Le Mans (held annually since 1923) and in the (European) Le Mans series , Asian Le Mans Series and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship . These cars are referred to as LMP (Le Mans prototype) cars with LMH and LMDh cars being run mainly by manufacturers and the slightly less powerful LMP2 cars run by privateer teams. All three Le Mans Series run GT cars in addition to Le Mans Prototypes; these cars have different restrictions than

5445-494: The 643 was a total redesign over the 642 which suffered inconsistent handling issues and was designed to allow for softer suspension travel, as per Prost's request. The V12 engine was upgraded six major times during 1991, with the final evolution used from Portugal to the end of the season. The chassis itself had two revisions, the first after the French Grand Prix—which saw a relocation of the exhaust exits from underneath

5566-612: The Bois de Boulogne. On July 22, 1894, the Parisian magazine Le Petit Journal organized what is considered to be the world's first motoring competition, from Paris to Rouen. One hundred and two competitors paid a 10- franc entrance fee. The first American automobile race is generally considered to be the Thanksgiving Day Chicago Times-Herald race of November 28, 1895. Press coverage of

5687-455: The Drivers' Championship with five points (one point behind the veteran Watson), scoring at Buenos Aires, Interlagos , Brands Hatch and Zandvoort . He had several accidents, breaking his wrist during practice at Kyalami and suffering a concussion during practice at Watkins Glen . He also retired from the previous round in Montreal a week earlier because of rear suspension failure. At

5808-592: The FIA GT cars. Another prototype and GT racing championship exists in the United States; the Grand-Am , which began in 2000, sanctions its own endurance series, the Rolex Sports Car Series , which consists of slower and lower-cost Daytona Prototype race cars compared to LMP and FIA GT cars. The Rolex Sports Car Series and American Le Mans Series announced a merger between the two series forming

5929-507: The French prefer martyrs who lose gloriously." In November 1982, three years before it became a round of the F1 World Championship, Prost, along with fellow F1 drivers Jacques Laffite and Nelson Piquet , made the trip to Melbourne , Australia to drive in the non-championship 1982 Australian Grand Prix at the short (1.609 km (1.000 mi)) Calder Park Raceway . Driving a Formula Pacific spec Ralt RT4 powered by

6050-654: The Frenchman eventually saying that "a truck would be easier to drive than this car". Following the Japanese Grand Prix , Prost was fired for the second time in his F1 career by a works team (he had also been fired by the Renault team just 2 days after the conclusion to the 1983 season for his public criticism of the team's failure to adequately develop the Renault RE40 which had cost both himself and

6171-666: The UK and upwards of 7000 active drivers. The sport is split into three basic divisions – distinguished by the rules regarding car contact during racing. The most famous championship are the BriSCA F1 Stock Cars . Full-contact formulas include Bangers , Bombers, and Rookie Bangers – and racing features Demolition Derbies, Figure of Eight, and Oval Racing. Semi Contact Formulas include BriSCA F1, F2, and Superstox – where bumpers are used tactically. Non-contact formulas include National Hot Rods, Stock Rods, and Lightning Rods. Ferrari 643 The chassis of

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6292-604: The UK, the major club series are the Monoposto Racing Club , BRSCC F3 (formerly ClubF3, formerly ARP F3), Formula Vee and Club Formula Ford. Each series caters to a section of the market, with some primarily providing low-cost racing, while others aim for an authentic experience using the same regulations as the professional series (BRSCC F3). The SCCA is also responsible for sanctioning single-seater racing in much of North America. There are other categories of single-seater racing, including kart racing , which employs

6413-500: The US, is an economical and rules-restricted version of touring-car racing, mainly used to restrict costs. Numerous production racing categories are based on particular makes of cars. Most series, with a few exceptions, follow the Group N regulation. There are several different series that are run all over the world, most notably, Japan's Super Taikyu and IMSA 's Firehawk Series, which ran in

6534-551: The United States, including the NASCAR Canada Series , NASCAR Mexico Series , NASCAR Whelen Euro Series , and NASCAR Brasil Sprint Race . NASCAR also governs several smaller regional series, such as the Whelen Modified Tour . Modified cars are best described as open-wheel cars. Modified cars have no parts related to the stock vehicle for which they are named after. A number of modified cars display

6655-438: The United States, the most popular series is the IndyCar Series . The cars have traditionally been similar to, though less technologically sophisticated than, F1 cars , with more restrictions on technology aimed at controlling costs. While these cars are not as technologically advanced, they are faster, in part due to their lower downforce compared to F1 cars, and also because they compete on oval race tracks, being able to average

6776-566: The Williams- Renault and won the title with five races remaining. The McLaren-Honda combination was waning: due to economic difficulties in Japan , Honda was not in position to outspend Renault on engine development. Honda opted to leave Formula One at season's end rather than carry on with a second-tier product. With no meaningful competition, a Williams driver was expected to cruise to the title again in 1993. Prost quickly recognized

6897-681: The World Series by Renault, succession series of World Series by Nissan ), Formula Three , Formula Palmer Audi and Formula Atlantic . In 2009, the FIA Formula Two Championship brought about the revival of the F2 series. Domestic, or country-specific, series include Formula Three and Formula Renault, with the leading introductory series being Formula Ford . Single-seater racing is not limited merely to professional teams and drivers. There exist many amateur racing clubs. In

7018-416: The age of 14 while on a family holiday. This new sport quickly became his career of choice. At age 16, he bought his first kart with money he saved working for his father's shop. Prost won several karting championships in his teens. In 1974, he became a full-time racer. He won the French senior karting championship in 1975. Prost made the transition to open-wheel racing in 1976 and rapidly progressed through

7139-537: The automobile. Races of various types were organized, with the first recorded as early as 1867. Many of the earliest events were effectively reliability trials , aimed at proving these new machines were a practical mode of transport, but soon became an important way for automobile makers to demonstrate their machines. By the 1930s, specialist racing cars had developed. There are now numerous different categories, each with different rules and regulations. The first prearranged match race of two self-powered road vehicles over

7260-535: The car back and forth to slosh the last drops of fuel into the pickup, he managed to keep it running just long enough to creep over the line and win the race. Prost commented after the race that when his car started running dry he immediately thought to himself "shit, I am 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 position, Prost's car ran out of fuel on

7381-420: The car was still unable to compete for the title over the course of the season. Adding insult to injury, Mansell's Williams-Renault clearly supplanted Ferrari as McLaren-Honda's main competition in 1991, and Mansell finished second in the Drivers' Championship that year. Prost took out his frustrations on the team, publicly likening the car to a "truck." Ferrari retaliated by firing him with one race left to go in

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7502-466: The car, and Belgium which saw minor alterations to the body cover. The car was not as competitive a car like the Williams FW14 and McLaren MP4/6 cars; a big problem with the car lay with a lack of correct data gathering due to the team's turbulent management structure at the time. The car's results (or lack thereof) was one of the main reasons for the falling out between Prost and Ferrari, with

7623-690: The car. With Rosberg retiring from Formula One at the end of 1986 season, underrated Swede Stefan Johansson filled the McLaren seat alongside Prost for the 1987 season. Even though McLaren had introduced the new Steve Nichols designed MP4/3 after three seasons with the MP4/2 model (Barnard had departed for Ferrari), the TAG engines were not the force they had been previously, lagging behind in power and with unreliability previously unseen. He never gave up though and challenged Piquet and Mansell almost until

7744-401: The championship on such an incident." He later said that he knew Senna would attempt to pass him at the chicane, and while "I did not [crash] on purpose, I did not open the door." McLaren, now fully behind Senna, unsuccessfully appealed the disqualification, which Sports Illustrated characterized as Ron Dennis "objecting to his [own] driver's winning the world title." In 1990 , Prost became

7865-416: The corners while going fast down the straights. With his car having less tyre wear than his rivals, Prost was able to get through the 61 laps of the abrasive Jacarepaguá Circuit with only two stops compared to the three or more by his rivals (Piquet pitted for tyres 3 times within the first 40 laps). Prost finished 40 seconds in front of Piquet, with Johansson a further 16 seconds back in third. When you win

7986-478: The course of the 1988 season, Prost began to suspect that Honda was trying to make Senna McLaren's number one driver, in violation of McLaren's promise to treat the two drivers equally. He met with Honda F1 boss Nobuhiko Kawamoto at the end of the season to express these concerns. Kawamoto acknowledged that Honda's engineers were probably more excited to work with Senna than Prost, but said that he intended to deliver Prost equal machinery on race day. However, following

8107-635: The end of that year Prost had the honour of notching up his 4th consecutive No.1 driver of the year by the editor of the Autocourse annual, matching Niki Lauda's run of No.1's from 1975 to 1978 in the same annual. Writing in 1987, the Autocourse editor mentioned that despite driving a down on power engine (compared to the Honda's) "Prost should have won at least 6 races in 1987 – but he won't moan about it. Despite being out of championship contention, 1987

8228-444: The end of the season, despite having two years remaining on his contract, he left McLaren and signed with Renault . Prost later explained that he left because the car frequently broke down and because he felt the team blamed him for several accidents. According to Watson, Mayer had initially wanted to sign Kevin Cogan but Marlboro insisted on Prost. Prost would not return to McLaren until 1984, after Ron Dennis assumed full control of

8349-424: The end, winning three races and breaking Jackie Stewart 's record for race victories by winning for the 28th time at the Portuguese Grand Prix . "People might not believe me," said Stewart at the time. "But I'm glad to see Alain take my record. I am glad that he has done it because he's the one that deserves it. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the best race driver of his generation." Prost considers his win in

8470-400: The event first aroused significant American interest in the automobile. The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily , Italy near the island's capital of Palermo . Founded in 1906 , it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973. The oldest surviving sports car racing event is

8591-427: The finishing straight of the last lap. Instead of retiring at a time in the season when points were critical, Prost got out of his car and tried to push it to the finish, to great applause from the crowd. The finish line was too far, though, and he never reached it. He was eventually classified sixth in the race, as the seventh-placed car (the Brabham -BMW of Derek Warwick ) was a lap behind. Prost also finished sixth at

8712-603: The first Ferrari driver to sign for the Scuderia after the death of team founder Enzo Ferrari in 1988. Ferrari had lured away several McLaren chassis designers over the years, including John Barnard and Steve Nichols . The 1990 Ferrari 641 was the first car to seriously threaten Honda's stranglehold on the Constructors' Championship, as Ferrari came within 11 points of the title. Prost won five races for Ferrari that year, in Brazil , Mexico , France , Britain and Spain . At Mexico, he accomplished one of his finest drives, winning

8833-817: The junior categories. That year, he dominated French Formula Renault , winning the title and all but one race. In 1977, he won the Formula Renault European championship. In 1978, he won the French Formula Three championship while simultaneously competing in the European Formula Three category. Finally, in 1979, he won both the European and French Formula Three titles. He also made three guest appearances in European Formula Two in 1977 and 1978. Prost's Formula Three wins drew interest from Formula One teams and sponsors. Before

8954-783: The last step up to premier GT-class racing. Other major GT championships include the GT World Challenge America , GT World Challenge Asia , Super GT , and the International GT Open . There are minor regional and national GT series using mainly GT4 and GT3 cars featuring both amateur and professional drivers. Sports prototypes, unlike GT cars, do not rely on road-legal cars as a base. They are closed-wheel and often closed-cockpit purpose-built race cars intended mainly for endurance racing. They have much lower weight, more horsepower and more downforce compared to GT cars, making them much faster. They are raced in

9075-401: The last two races. By contrast, Prost would automatically become the champion if Senna retired from either race, which was precisely what happened. Prost and Senna collided with seven laps to go, and Prost was widely blamed for causing the collision. (Prost was leading the race at the time and refused to leave a gap on the inside. Senna's normal practice was to line up his car for a crash and dare

9196-456: The latter , with Prost winning the former championship and Senna taking the following. Amidst a winless 1991 campaign for Ferrari, he was sacked by the team over comments made about the Ferrari 643 . After a year hiatus, Prost returned with Williams in 1993 , breaking several records on the way to his fourth championship and retiring at the end of the season. He returned to Formula One as

9317-416: The lower branch of the flipped Y and in the upper branch, surrounding the top). During Prost's time at Renault, he used more blue details, most notably around the rear of his helmet. Prost's helmet changed in 1985, as his helmet now had the blue detail around the front, surrounding the visor (with also a blue stripe on the side region, making the white area become a P) and a white ring with red lines surrounding

9438-442: The most popular class of GT cars, with premier racing series such as the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA both using GT3 as their top class of GT car. GT3 cars have more significant aero than a GT2 car, but also have less horsepower, typically falling in between 500 and 550 horsepower. GT4 class cars have very little aerodynamics and less horsepower than GT3 machinery, typically around 450 horsepower. GT4 typically serves as

9559-448: The new Honda F1 leadership publicly stated that Prost was getting the same equipment as Senna, Prost publicly rejected Honda's reassurances. After Senna outqualified Prost by a mammoth +1.790 seconds, Prost once again complained about Honda to the press. Insulted, Honda threatened to withdraw its engines from Prost's car unless Prost apologized, which he did. Ultimately, Prost won at Monza while Senna retired with an engine issue, giving Prost

9680-419: The next four races, and then won his first Formula One race at his home Grand Prix in France at the fast Dijon circuit, finishing two seconds ahead of his old teammate John Watson. For Prost, his debut victory was memorable mostly for the change it made in his mindset. "Before, you thought you could do it," he said. "Now you know you can." Prost led from the start the next 5 races, and won two more races during

9801-457: The next race in Britain . Mansell was replaced by Frenchman Jean Alesi . The 1991 season was not as kind to Ferrari, as the Ferrari 642 was not as reliable as the McLaren and Williams cars. Prost never finished a race lower than fifth, but won no races, scored only five podiums, and finished only eight races; similarly, Alesi finished only seven races. Reportedly, Ferrari's famous V12 engine

9922-464: The oldest car racing series still active in the world. The first TC competition took place in 1931 with 12 races, each in a different province. Future Formula One star Juan Manuel Fangio (Chevrolet) won the 1940 and 1941 editions of the TC. It was during this time that the series' Chevrolet-Ford rivalry began, with Ford acquiring most of its historical victories. Over the last few years, auto racing has seen

10043-511: The oldest existing purpose-built and still in use automobile race course in the United States is the 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana . It is the largest capacity sports venue of any variety worldwide, with a top capacity of some 257,000+ seated spectators. NASCAR was founded by Bill France Sr. on February 21, 1948, with the help of several other drivers. The first NASCAR " Strictly Stock " race ever

10164-447: The opening round in Brazil as his best and most rewarding race ever. The Williams-Hondas had been dominant during qualifying, and Prost started fifth on the grid with a time three seconds slower than Mansell's pole time. Knowing he didn't have the qualifying speed, he instead worked on his race set-up, and with everyone else going for a high-downforce set-up, he went the other way. The set-up meant less tyre wear, thanks to slower speeds in

10285-649: The other driver to back off, and as expected, Senna refused to yield and collided with Prost's car.) Senna managed to restart his car and win the race, but the FIA (led by Prost's countryman Jean-Marie Balestre , whom Senna disliked) disqualified him for missing the chicane, fined him US$ 100,000 for "dangerous driving," and handed him a suspended six-month ban. Following the race, Prost admitted that "I know everybody thinks I did it on purpose," but rationalized that "Senna came behind me, I didn't see him come and I couldn't do anything to avoid him. I am very sorry to have to finish[ed]

10406-454: The owner of Prost Grand Prix from 1997 to 2001 , having purchased Ligier . Prost held an advisory role at Renault—later re-branded as Alpine —from 2017 to 2021 . Outside of Formula One, Prost was a race-winner in the 2005 FFSA GT Championship , and entered the Race of Champions in 2010 , representing France alongside Sébastien Loeb . In ice racing , Prost is a three-time champion of

10527-415: The potential of the Williams car and began negotiating with Frank Williams for a 1993 ride no later than the second race of the 1992 season. He ultimately signed a two-year contract for 1993 and 1994. Prost had expected to race alongside Mansell, but Mansell's contract negotiations fell through over financial terms. As insurance, Prost had negotiated a clause in his contract which prevented Senna from joining

10648-591: The race after starting in 13th position. In both the Mexican and Spanish races, he led Mansell to Ferrari 1–2 finishes. The championship once again came to the penultimate round of the season in Japan , but this time the roles were reversed, with Prost trailing McLaren-Honda's Senna by nine points. As in 1989, a controversial collision between the two settled the race. At the first corner of the first lap, Senna intentionally drove his car into Prost's, taking them both out of

10769-437: The race and sealing the title in his favour. Dennis immediately knew that Senna had purposefully crashed Prost out of the race, but it took a year for Senna to admit that the crash was intentional; in 1991, he disclosed that he crashed into Prost in part to retaliate for Prost's actions in 1989. Although Prost complained loudly about Senna's manoeuvre, saying that "What he did today was absolutely disgusting. ... He has no value [as

10890-403: The race, went back on a pre-race agreement to support Prost during the race. His relationship with the French media was also poor. 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." He added that "It's hard to explain, but

11011-425: The record for the highest percentage of races started from the front row in a single season (16 for 16 in 1993 ) with Ayrton Senna ( 1989 ) and Damon Hill ( 1996 ). As of November 2024, he is the last Frenchman to have won his home Grand Prix . During his career, Prost was nicknamed "The Professor" for his intellectual approach to competition. Though it was not a name he particularly cared for, he later admitted that

11132-408: The red flag without consulting the 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 . Lauda's 0.5-point margin of victory is the closest title race in Formula One history. In 1985 Prost became the first French Formula One World Champion . He won five of

11253-569: The reduction of the schedule from 56 to 34 races a year, established 1972 as the beginning of NASCAR's "modern era". The IMSA GT Series evolved into the American Le Mans Series , which ran its first season in 1998. The European races eventually became the closely related European Le Mans Series , both of which mix prototypes and GTs. Turismo Carretera (TC) is a popular touring car racing series in Argentina, and one of

11374-456: The same number of wins as Piquet, but he had four second places to Piquet's three, thus placing him second before 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 team then pitted Piquet to change tyres as a safety precaution, while Prost had already pitted earlier due to

11495-402: The samurai, and [Prost] was more the computer." Racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing , motor racing , or automobile racing ) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non-racing disciplines. Auto racing has existed since the invention of

11616-465: The scapegoat for failing to win a championship. In addition to that, the French fans recalled the bitter fight that had caused their favourite, Arnoux, to leave the team. Prost said in an interview with ESPN during the final race that his car was "not competitive" and that he "didn't lose by my own fault" Renault fired Prost only two days after the South African race. He re-signed for McLaren for

11737-616: 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 had been leading, albeit with Ayrton Senna ( Toleman ) and Stefan Bellof ( Tyrrell ) closing on him rapidly, when Clerk of the Course Jacky Ickx stopped the race at half distance due to heavy rain, which was controversial, for Ickx displayed

11858-574: The season's 15 races were on the North American continent). Prost earned a further four victories for Renault during the season and finished second in the Drivers' Championship, two points behind Nelson Piquet. Piquet and the Brabham team overhauled Prost and Renault in the last few races of the season. Prost, who felt the team had been too conservative in developing the car, found himself increasingly at odds with Renault's management, who made him

11979-583: The season, took his first pole position in Germany and finished on the podium every time he completed a race distance. He won again in Holland and Italy, and finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship, seven points behind champion Nelson Piquet . Prost won the first two Grands Prix of the 1982 season in South Africa , where Prost recovered from losing a wheel, and Brazil , where he finished 3rd but

12100-630: The season, winning 15 out of 16 races – a record that stood until the 2023 season, when Red Bull -Honda won 21 out of 22 races. McLaren scored three times as many points as second-placed Ferrari. Reflecting the dominance of Honda power, Williams finished a distant seventh in the Constructors' Championship just one year after winning the title by 61 points. Prost finished first or second in every race other than his two retirements at Silverstone and Monza . He won seven races and outscored his new teammate Senna by 11 points, despite Senna winning one more race than him. Although Prost would have been champion under

12221-461: The season. At the time, he stated that under the terms of his Williams contract, while he could block Senna from joining Williams in 1993, he could not do so for 1994. However, in an interview for Asif Kapadia 's 2010 documentary Senna , Prost revealed that the Senna clause did in fact extend to 1994, but Renault (Williams' engine supplier) pressured Frank Williams to ask Prost to waive the clause. As

12342-435: The season. Cooler heads prevailed, and McLaren allowed Prost to finish the season with the team in exchange for a public, written apology. This concession eliminated the possibility that Prost would clinch the 1989 title in a Ferrari car. Prost clinched his third Drivers' Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix , the penultimate race of the season. Prost was 16 points ahead of Senna at the time, meaning that Senna needed to win

12463-680: The sixteen Grands Prix during the season. He had also won the San Marino Grand Prix , but was disqualified after his car was found to be 2 kg underweight in post-race scrutineering . Prost finished 20 points ahead of his closest rival, Michele Alboreto . Prost's performance in 1985 earned him the Légion d'honneur distinction in France. At the end of the season, Lauda retired; he would later credit Prost with sending him into retirement, explaining that "I had this perfect car, and then this French pain-in-the-ass arrives and blows me away. If he hadn't turned up I'd have gone on for another few years." Lauda

12584-711: The sport, former Formula 2 champion Jonathan Palmer reopened the F2 category again; most drivers have graduated from the Formula Palmer Audi series. The category is officially registered as the FIA Formula Two championship. Most rounds have two races and are support races to the FIA World Touring Car Championship . Touring car racing is a style of road racing that is run with production-derived four-seat race cars. The lesser use of aerodynamics means following cars have

12705-488: The team the respective Drivers' and Constructors' Championships). The team replaced him in Australia with test driver Gianni Morbidelli . The car scored 39.5 points of the team's 55.5 points in 1991 (the 642 model was used to score 16 points in the first 6 races of the season) with 8 podiums and finished third in the Constructors' Championship. The 643 was tested in early 1992 by Ivan Capelli before being replaced at

12826-458: The team's lead driver and was said to have played on this status. (According to Mansell, Ferrari contractually guaranteed him number one driver status, but once Prost became available, Ferrari paid Mansell to let Prost be the number one driver.) Mansell said that after watching him take pole in France with a purportedly superior chassis, Prost secretly demanded that Ferrari give him Mansell's car for

12947-554: The team. Prost was partnered with fellow Frenchman René Arnoux for 1981 . Motor sports author Nigel Roebuck reports that there were problems between Prost and Arnoux from the start of the season, Prost being immediately quicker than his more experienced teammate He did not finish the first two Grands Prix, due to collisions with Andrea de Cesaris in Long Beach and Didier Pironi at Jacarepaguá , but scored his first podium finish at Buenos Aires . He also did not finish in

13068-440: The team. Although Senna furiously accused Prost of cowardice, there was nothing he could do about it. Prost won his fourth and final title in 1993. That year, Williams-Renault fielded another dominant car and handily defended the Constructors' Championship, finishing with twice as many points as second-placed McLaren. Prost led the way, winning seven of the first ten races and taking pole in thirteen out of sixteen races. Although he

13189-433: The term appropriately characterized his driving style. Skilled at setting up his car for race conditions, Prost would often conserve his brakes and tyres early in a race, leaving them fresher for a challenge at the end. His mantra was to "win as slowly as possible," a phrase he may have picked up from his teammate Niki Lauda , or Juan Manuel Fangio . Honda F1 boss Nobuhiko Kawamoto once told Prost that Ayrton Senna "was more

13310-399: The top (forming a white circle with a blue half in the rear of the top). Prost kept a similar design for his entry at Ferrari and Williams. Sometimes Prost used variants of his helmet design. In 2007 he used his original design, but with the circle top all red and a red line in the lower chin area. In 2010, he used a pearl white helmet with silver flames and a blue-white-red-white-blue stripe on

13431-480: The visor, designed by Kaos Design. Prost is widely regarded as one of Formula One's greatest-ever drivers. He has the fourth-most Drivers' Championships of all time, behind only Lewis Hamilton , Michael Schumacher, and Juan Manuel Fangio . In addition, he was just 12.5 points away from an eight-title career. At his retirement, Prost held the record for most career Grand Prix victories (51), which stood for fourteen years. ( Michael Schumacher broke Prost's record during

13552-441: Was a decision he would come to regret. Upon signing Senna, McLaren announced that Prost and Senna would compete on equal terms. According to Dennis, "Alain was fine with the competition, but deeply suspicious." The McLaren-Honda partnership delivered Prost a legendarily fast car and two golden opportunities for a third Drivers' Championship, but it also kicked off one of Formula One's most famous rivalries . McLaren-Honda dominated

13673-429: Was a memorable year for Prost. His win at Estoril was exceptional." In 1985, the Autocourse editor wrote of Prost: "In the long run, Ayrton Senna may be the better driver, but in 1985 for speed and consistency Prost had no equal", while in 1986, the Autocourse editor commented on Prost's season "Alain had an almost faultless year. 1986 was a year of Prost's outstanding all round ability." The 1988 season proved to be

13794-501: Was awarded the win after Piquet (1st) and Keke Rosberg (2nd) were disqualified. He finished in the points on four other occasions, but did not win again. Despite retiring from seven races, Prost improved on his Drivers' Championship position, finishing in fourth, but with nine fewer points than the previous year. His relationship with Arnoux deteriorated further after the French Grand Prix . Prost believes that Arnoux, who won

13915-463: Was created in 2006. The group was an assemblage of drivers from different racing disciplines and formed for an MTV reality pilot, which was shot at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca . In December 2005, the FIA gave approval to Superleague Formula racing, which debuted in 2008, whereby the racing teams are owned and run by prominent sports clubs such as A.C. Milan and Liverpool F.C. After 25 years away from

14036-744: Was held on June 19, 1949, at Daytona Beach, Florida , U.S.. From 1962, sports cars temporarily took a back seat to GT cars , with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) replacing the World Championship for Sports Cars with the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. From 1962 through 2003, NASCAR's premier series was called the Winston Cup Series, sponsored by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company cigarette brand Winston . The changes that resulted from RJR's involvement, as well as

14157-410: Was in the last year of his contract with McLaren) threatened to join a rival team at the end of the season, Ron Dennis publicly backed Prost against Honda, "declar[ing] that the team had found consistent differences" between the engines that Honda assigned to Senna and Prost. To accommodate Prost's concerns, Dennis attempted to allocate engines on a random basis, such as a coin flip or drawing numbers from

14278-486: Was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of its competitors, and the Ferrari chassis was likewise uncompetitive. (Barnard had left Ferrari in 1990, early enough to have input on the 1990 car but too late to help with the 1991 cars.) Although Ferrari upgraded the car to the Ferrari 643 in time for Prost's home race at Magny-Cours , in which Prost and Alesi finished second and fourth,

14399-513: Was regularly challenged on track by teammate Hill and rival Senna, he finished 26 points ahead of the second-placed Senna and clinched the title in Portugal with two races to go. At season's end, the British government awarded Prost an OBE for his performances; he had won all four of his titles with British teams. Shortly before securing the title, Prost announced he would retire at the end of

14520-525: Was replaced at McLaren by 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg for 1986 . Prost successfully defended his title, despite his car struggling against the Honda -powered Williams cars driven by Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell . Until the latter stages of the final race of the 1986 season, the Australian Grand Prix , Prost appeared set to finish second in the Championship, behind Mansell. Prost had

14641-578: Was the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit , opening in January 1906. The pear-shaped track was close to a mile in length, with slightly banked curves and a gravel surface of crushed cement. Brooklands , in Surrey, England, was the first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing venue, opening in June 1907. It featured a 4.43 km (2.75 mi) concrete track with high-speed banked corners. One of

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