French racing driver Alain Prost: biography, statistics and interesting facts

Alain Prost - racer F1 from France, who became a legend in his lifetime. Winner 51 Grand Prix, four-time world champion. He is one of the best racing drivers of the twentieth century. This article will describe his brief biography.

Childhood

Alain Prost was born in Lorette (France) in 1955. At school, the boy played football well and planned to become a professional athlete. But everything changed one case. At the age of 14, Simple went with his family for a vacation in Saint-Etienne. There, Alain learned what karting was, and fell in love with him at first sight. On football, the boy quickly forgot. Simple began to save money to buy a card. And when he got his first car, he decided to devote his own life to racing.

Carier start

The first steps in this direction Prost Alen began to take in 1973. An eighteen-year-old Frenchman joined the Winfield team. Then Alain became a Formula Renault driver. The talented racer in the first season won in 12 stages out of 13, becoming the champion of France.

"Formula 1"

In 1978, Alain Prost moved to "Formula-3". In the first season he failed to show himself. But the second ended for the pilot a triumph - Alain became the champion of Europe and France. These successes opened The road to the top of motorsport - the strongest and most unique "Formula-1". But there was one problem. To participate in the best races of the world only pilots with sponsors were allowed. And in Prost, there was none. The young man was helped by Fred Operet (a former employer), who assisted Alena in signing the contract with the McLaren team.

The hero of this article showed excellent results from the first races. That's only the cars that exploited Alain, were not reliable. On one of the races, because of another car breakdown, Prost got into an accident. The injuries did not allow the young man to continue fighting for the title. Also, the situation that arose significantly affected the future career of the rider. Alain began to drive very carefully, in order to avoid an accident. Unreliable and substandard fireballs many times failed Just, but he tolerated. All this went on until the qualification in Watkins Glen. The Alyona's car once again flew off the track because of the flying suspension. The pilot himself received a concussion. But the saddest thing in this story was that "McLaren" laid all the blame on Prost, demanding to take part in the Grand Prix. The young man refused and broke the contract with the team.

New contract

In 1981, Alain Prost signed an employment contract with Renault. Fans worshiped a talented rider. But only in the new team things began to happen, because of which Alain left the old - the security of the cars left much to be desired. Nevertheless, in the first season, Prost won in three stages. Next year, Alain finished with the fourth result.

In 1983, the Frenchman became almost the main contender for the championship in the "Formula-1". He led the whole season, but he was again led by a car. This circumstance very upset the leadership of "Reno", which terminated the contract with Alain. Fans of racing also ceased to sympathize with the hero of this article. In connection with these events, the young man just had to move from France to Switzerland.

McLaren

Soon Alain Prost, whose biography and statistics were periodically published in thematic magazines, returned to the old team. At the first Grand Prix the Frenchman won a confident victory. Although he finished the season unsuccessfully, losing with a record delay of 0.5 points (this achievement has not yet been beaten). 1985 - this is the year when Prost Alen made a breakthrough in his career. The racing driver was able to win the "Formula-1". At that time, the pragmatic and stable Frenchman became unattainable for the rivals. For his academic and intellectual driving, Alain received the nickname "Professor."

In 1986, the hero of this article defended his champion title. After Jack Brabham, Prost became the first pilot to do this. In the next season, Alain set another record - 28 wins at the Grand Prix. Especially notable is his win in Brazil, because the racer was able to bypass the very Ayrton Senna. This was due to the fact that Prost tried to reduce tire wear and made one pit stop less.

Rivalry and care

In 1988, Senna joined McLaren. After that, Ayrton and Alain set a new record in Formula-1. Together, the drivers scored 15 wins in the season (Barikhello and Schumacher interrupted in 2002). In 1988, the hero of this article lost the champion title Senna. But in the next season he was able to win his third victory at the "Formula-1".

Soon, two talented pilots became very tight in the team. And since Ayrton was the favorite of the McLaren leadership, Alena had to leave. It was not possible to do it quietly. Alain Prost, offended by the bosses of McLaren, moved to the Ferrari with a scandal. In those days, the Italian team was not a favorite and had a lot of problems. But the arrival of the Frenchman changed everything.

I just did a lot of test work for the Italians. The leader of the championship was "McLaren" with a powerful engine "Honda". And Senna became the main rival of Alain. Since the start of the season, Ayrton has dominated everyone. But the hero of this article also did not sit idly by. In the first season, Prost won three Grand Prix and several times took over the leadership in the course of the championship. Especially bright was the victory of the Frenchman in Mexico. On the warm-up circle and in the qualification Alain showed the thirteenth time. But in the course of the race, he was able to get ahead of Mansell, Pique, Butsen, Patrese, Berger, Alesi, Donnelly, Warwick, Martini, De Cesaris and Nannini. And for nine laps before the finish, Simple went around and Ayrton Senna.

1991 was a failure for the Frenchman. All the blame lay on the team "Ferrari", which did not have time to prepare a new car. For the season, Prost did not win a single victory. After that, the pilot decided to retire.

Return

Alain Prost, whose biography is presented above, could not stand it more than a year without racing. In 1993, he signed a contract with Williams. The return of the pilot was triumphant. It is simple for the fourth time for his career took the title on "Formula 1". Alain beforehand secured a victory, bypassing Senna and Schumacher. After the triumph, he decided to finally end the race.

In 1997, the Frenchman returned to Formula One again, but not as a rider, but as the head of the team "Prost Grand Prix". She worked for four years, but then ceased to exist because of financial difficulties.