Why Prost is the Most Underappreciated Driver in F1 History
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- čas přidán 23. 03. 2023
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Prost's longevity is so underrated. He's normally associated with the late 80s/early 90s era due to his battles with Senna, but he was also super competitive in the early 80s Turbo era battling with Lauda, Piquet, Arnoux etc. which seems like a completely different time.
84 was tight
Hes like Alonso now...all the mouths were at Senna and Piquet ...but Prost was the master,now everyone talked about Hamilton and vettel but alonso was dragging those different donkeys
@@Le_equitabliste 2007*
And he challenged for the title with 4 different teams
there was a reason why he was called "the professor" after all ;)
One of the craziest stats about Prost is that he was only 12.5 points away from being an 8x champion, and 29.5 away from being a 10x champion.
Thats crazy, however back then a win was only 9 points.
@@bastianmann4936meaning he was two wins away
@@bastianmann4936 Your "ackshually" isn't the gotcha you think it is!
@@unthenner5519 yes it is? he's stating a fact, its not a "Gotcha" or whatever you're trying to twist his words into
@@cock781 It makes the statistic more impressive not less.
They called him "The Professor" for a reason, he frequently outsmarted drivers and made great decisions on track, he was very methodical and invested in the cars he drove. Plus the fact he bought Ligier and had his own team later on to try and put France on the top again is respectable!
Yes but look how badly he ran the team. There's an hour long video on CZcams which explains in detail how he brought a decent midfield team and then ran it into the ground within 4 years. Don't say it wasn't his fault either because he was the one making all the decisions so the blame lies squarely at his door.
@@jacobmassey3897 I agree, ive actually seen the video and watch a lot if replays from that period. But I liked what he intended to do with it, even though he failed miserably. A lot of folks seem to think that running a team is that easy. This just proves that not everyone can do it. Just buying the team was a very high risk.
Prost GP was brought up by political connections of Alain with Jacques Chirac and was promised a national support for a 100% French team.
But Chirac lost his majority in Assemblée in 97 and got to deal with a hostile Prime minister. He let Alain in the dust as the team was helped by the country. So Prost GP started to deteriorate as soon as 98 started since they lost country support. Alain was weak as a team owner and his country let him down.
Why do You think Alpine team is located in Enstone : UK has favourable conditions for racing teams. A 100% French team is not viable on french soil.
Alain will always be despised in France and acknowledged in UK.
lol thanks for the regurgitating platitiudes
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Will always baffle me why people don't rate Prost highly enough, he's one of the greatest pilots the sports has ever seen.
Lauda, Senna, Mansell, these are just some of the team mates he had over the years and look at how he carried himself, absolutely incredible driver. That 90 season with Ferrari was one of his best seasons.
Lauda beat him in his last title fight. Thats the reason I believe, why Prost is underrated
Not to offend anyone buy think the reason he is underrated bec he did not have a lot of tragedy in his career
Lauda crashed and nearly died(not to take anything any froml lauda he is still one of the best ) but people will sympatize bec of that
And senna well died and that's the main reason people remember him and and again sympatize I think that's the main reason
@@mohammadnashitsiddiqui2168 in terms of raw pace Prost was much faster that season than Lauda
@@Paul777- but Lauda won the title
People that don't rate Prost as a titan of F1 really don't know F1. And that's coming from someone who is the biggest Senna fan.
I met Prost as a kid, when he visited the Phillip Morris factory, where his championship winning car was on display. (they make Marlboro)
My mom worked there and managed to sneak me into the guest room so i could meet him there, i remember him as a really friendly man, and he gave me a small model of his race car. (still have it)
I had started watching F1 as a kid because of my mother working for the tobacco brand so i automatically was rooting for them, ever since i've been a fan of the sport.
You are so lucky!
Getting a model car from Prost, that's so cool
And they said cigarette sponsorship was bad for the sport, yet they helped create so many fans with the iconic liveries
@@Mabstube for sure they did :D
@@ikmal63h17 proud ownership for sure :D
Because he’s French
As a french person i can confirm.
Real
😂😂😂 Bravo
Por supuesto..... Q respuesta tan acertada.....
Because he didn't die in a tragic accident.
I think because so many people loved and idolised senna that they looked at his great drives and wins but didn’t appreciate the times he lost which was to Alain most of the time
Honestly, I think it's because senna died. Drivers who die while racing tend to be remembered better than they really were. I'm also a nascar fan and a similar thing happened with Dale earnhardt sr. He's almost universally loved even though when he was alive he was probably the most hated driver and people would find almost any excuse possible to try to write him off, now it's the exact opposite.
@@theironcross2933 “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone” is written all over it for sportsman’s like Senna and Dale Sr.
@@theironcross2933Prost definitely would have been better regarded if he died before Prost F1 team existed to mar his legacy
objectively dirty driver senna
@Richard Moore Schumacher for sure was straight up as dirty as senna, vettel and max not at all.
As a young F1 fan in the mid 90s and a huge Schumacher fan to boot, I underrated Alain Prost severely because I read in a few places that he was cowardly in the rain. When I learned more about his career and his method as a driver I started to appreciate him more. But here is the most impressive stat about Prost's career & it's not the fact that he could have won 7 or eight championships with a slightly different points system or even that he faced the most formidable teammates ever. The most impressive statistic about Prost is that during his career he suffered 41 mechanical DNFs whereas his teammates (in the same cars) suffered 73 DNFs. It is statistically impossible that this was down due to Prost being lucky, but it's clearly down to Prost being so much smoother in his driving style that he managed to finish 32 extra GPs compared to the great rivals he faced as teammates (that is two entire extra seasons by the standards of the 80s and early 90s) No other driver can boast of any similar statistic in the history of F1.
This is a, frankly, insane statistic that is literally never discussed. As you said, it's extremely telling of Prost as a driver. Think of the value that adds to the team, let alone the obvious advantage it has for the driver himself.
That's just mindblowing!
No one understands how to pamper/extract machinery as much as prost. To win, you need to finish first
Reminds me of what people used to say about Jim Clark, that you could tell what parts were from his car vs his teammates
The mechanics could tell his gearboxes were always in better condition than his team mates on disassembly!
As a Brazilian I can't think of a better rival for senna than prost, they are completely opposites and at the same time complementary, each one of them could be undoubtedly be seen as the greatest of all time if was not the other...
I wish the Senna doc had shown more of their reconciliation. They were good friends just before Senna's death
@@RunDGC yes this was one the downs of the documentary
I'm french,i agree.Senna and Prost rivalry IS Legendary.I was twenty years old when Senna died.
@@michaelisarcanjo12014 not too old,i'm 49😁
@@pedrohvpv676 Adriane Galisteu, a few years ago, talked more about the Senna-Prost relationship during 1994 and, in short, according to Adriane, they DID become friends!!
Over the past few weeks I have re watched every F1 race from 88 and just started the first race of 93. Prost, particularly the last part of his career had to race against some very tough competition. Senna, Mansell, Damon Hill, Schumacher, Piquet all champions. The fact he was even in contention for the 90 championship considering Senna was in a better car for most of the circuits they raced on is a testament in itself. The man is truly underappreciated, mostly because of how he has been portrayed in relation to Senna. Give the man his flowers now, don't wait until he passes away.
Wher have you seen the races
@@akj3163 Seconding this question.
@@Shortstuffjo Better be quick FOM is already taking some down - asopher2
Guess ya noticed they didn't overuse the safety car back then.
@@GregBrownsWorldORacing got a problem with people not getting killed?
He's not underappreciated, he's just not dead. The Professor will be missed when that sad day comes
Exactly!
Yeah but Senna was far better.
@@neznamneznam1696this video just proved that Prost was the better driver
@@neznamneznam1696 Senna only beat him bc he is the god of punt
@@neznamneznam1696 both were terrific drivers. Senna was better on raw speed. But in intelligence of driving, racecraft, consistency Prost was better
Prost was an excellent strategist, for instance, in Silverstone 85, he knew Senna wasn't going to have enough fuel to keep up first, so he waited. Also Prost learned from others. In 84, he was on pole more times than Lauda, while Lauda recovered from th back an won races and the championship. A year later we saw a Prost doing the same, winning from the back, waiting for the others to fail, winning the WDC at Brands Hatch not even fighting for first. He made it look so easy that people don't like him, also he was honest when talking about the cars, something that Ferrari fans would never forgive.
To think that this guy still is in the paddock and roams almost alone is heartbreaking!
Always loved prost, he was such a good driver. He fought for the title for most of his career, and would have given renault a title if they hadn't gotten too cocky and stopped developing the car. Then helped mclaren building the myth it was back then, he narrowly missed the title with ferrari in his 1st year, and won with williams
He was an amazing developer, that's also why he always had such good cars. Had he stayed in Williams, he may have won 2 other titles, or even more
Prost is the casualty of F1's fan culture and perceptions of intelligent drivers. He is a prime example of a driver that doesn't need to drive like a lunatic to be passionate about what he does.
He was the most successful driver in F1‘s most competitive era. Considering that era had Senna, Piquet, Mansell, Keke Rosberg Lauda, Hill and Schumi that is no mean feat at all.
His ultra smooth driving style was both fast and effective, allowing him to get the most out of the machinery he was given.
It’s interesting to note that all the multiple world championship drivers since mimic his racing style and ethos more than they do Sennas. The main strength to Hamilton and Verstappen is that both of them know when NOT to push and how to get the best reliability from their cars, not just the best performance on pace alone.
You gotta realize, Prost was one of if not the greatest driver in the 80s era of F1, outsmarting drivers like Mansell, Senna, Piquet, Lauda all those greats we all know and love.
Hell, in his final F1 Season, he won the championship, it shows the talent of Le Professor
Wait F1 in the 80s had turbo hybrids?
@l̼̓ Thank God because for a second there l thought that the reason why F1 nowadays is predictable was not because of Turbo hybrids from 2014-now. Thanks for telling me
@@samsea0489 they did have turbo engines, i think they were hybrids
@@coverboy22 l checked on the Internet and they describe the era of 80s as just ‘The V6 Turbo Era’
Let me remind you that this guy had René Arnoux, Nikki Lauda, Kéké Rosberg, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill as teammates, he beat them all in different context and different team!
Let me remind you that this guy won 51 races in arguably the most competitive era of the history of the sport.
Let me remind you that this guy won a WC against the 1986 Williams driven by Piquet and Mansell, which is (for the newbies) the equivalent of beating Merc at the peak of their power during the Rosberg-Hamilton era.
Let me also remind you that this guy would've been a 7 times world champion with current point system.
Finally, let me remind you that this guy is the only pre-2000s driver that is still among the top spots in nearly every statistics.
For me, he is the GOAT!
More fastest laps than Senna
@@simes205 So what? What's the relevance of Prost achieving fastest lap in Detroit 1988 but finishing 40 seconds behind Senna?
What's the relevance of Prost achieving fastest lap at Imola 1989 but finished 40 seconds behind Senna?
What's the relevance of Prost achieving fastest lap at Monaco 1989 but finished 52 seconds behind Senna?
The fact that Senna only had 19 fastest laps but 41 wins prove how irrelevant fastest laps were.
Keke Rosberg was easily the fastest man of 1985. He made Mansell look like an amateur and practically beat him in every race and qualifying (save just a few). Mansell won at Silverstone because Senna and Rosberg collided. Williams was just very unreliable that year. Prost beat Rosberg at McLaren 1986 easily. Okay he had 9 tech. failures but he couldn't keep up with Prost. Prost also totally demolished Mansell on Ferrari 1990. He beat five world champion teammates, outscored Senna both 88 and 89. Never demanded number 1 status. That's amazing.
@@detonator2112 The fastest driver in 1985 was Ayrton Senna.
Prost won in Silverstone, Mansell at Brands Hatch after Senna and Rosberg collided.
The 1986 Mclaren was set up for Prost. Rosberg fell out with John Barnard and is quoted in saying that the only decent Mclaren he got was at Adelaide.
With Prost stealing Mansell's chassis without censure by Ferrari in 1990, it is not too hard to appreciate how Mansell was a second class citizen at Ferrari in 1990.
Where did Prost beat Senna on the road in 1989?
Damon Hill said he had to race under team orders in 1993
@@John-mi2rt Way too much emphasis is put on irrelevant things. Like who's the "rain master" and all that. 95% of the races take place in dry. Or who gets the pole, etc.
It's almost like if in football they would just discuss how how many dangerous free kick positions they got... or how much bigger their possession stats numbers were. And then they'd lose the game 0-1. "B-but he made so many beautiful dribbles, they deserved to win."
The only thing that actually matters is how many points the driver has at the end of the season.
And you have to understand how Prost drove. Always very conservative at the start of the race. Monza 1990 is a perfect example when he let hothead Alesi go through and picked up the same position 5 minutes later when Alesi spun. He was never a spectacular driver. Sure, Senna was faster on one lap. But as a complete driver and tactician Prost was easily equal or even better.
Prost made much less driver errors. Prost outscored Senna both 88 and 89. And is the only driver who beat five world champion teammates. Never demanded number 1 position. That is a fact.
In my humble opinion, one of the smoothest drivers ever at the wheel of an F1 car.
And that sympathy for the equipment brought him big dividends
Under the current points system, Prost never lost to a teammate over the course of a season (yes, including Senna). That weird rule about the FIA only picking your best X race finishes from a season held him back from being talked about in the same breath as Schumacher and Hamilton. He was untouchable on his day.
Stole this data from a comment on a TommoF1 video:
Prost has NEVER lost to any teammate (5 WDCs) under today's scoring system
2x - John Watson 1980 (+24 points), 1985 (+6 points)
2x - Rene Arnoux 1981 (+74 points), 1982 (+34 points)
1x - Eddie Cheever 1983 (+102 points)
2x - Niki Lauda 1984 (+3.5 points), 1985 (+162 points)
1x - Keke Rosberg 1986 (+147 points)
1x - Stefan Johansson 1987 (+29 points)
2x - Ayrton Senna 1988 (+31 points), 1989 (+73 points)
1x - Nigel Mansell 1990 (+108 points)
1x - Jean Alesi 1991 (+32 points)
1x - Damon Hill 1993 (+69 points)
He only lost to lauda because he was only given half points for his win in monaco.
Add another 4.5 points to his total and that .5 point winning margin for lauda disappears.
They had one year he scored more points than senna but senna won the title.. drop yr worst result which was like a 4th for prost and senna was a dnf... so senna was not punished for being less consistent than prost who was punished for being the better driver over the whole season which is whwt the title is ALL ABOUT.
Plus senna deliberately took him out in a last race (japan?) To win a championship.
Senna was a prat. Glad he only killed himself and didnt take someone else with him.
@@sugarnads Blah blah. Take away Mansell's blowout. 1986 title gone
Take away Senna's retirements in Phoenix, Canada and Monza 1989. 1989 title gone
@@John-mi2rtshoulda woulda coulda
@@clubpenguin13531 That aimed at sugarads too? Moronic comment I know
Ironically, here in Brazil Prost is extremely respected. I agree with you, perhaps he is less remembered for adopting a very clean and precise style, with little passion in driving. Prost knew exactly what he had to do to earn points and was always racing with the championship in mind.
He was named "Le Professeur". He was so good in mathematically studying tracks and executing the race based on that. Underrated? not to me - he is one of the GREATS of F1 of the past 50 years !!
Between 1983 and 1990 (Except 1987, du to the weakness of Mclaren), Prost has always been involved in a title fight. Which is a very great performance.
There’s an amazing doc on CZcams following Prost’s season at Williams. Have so much respect for him as a driver. He was brilliant! And truth is he was more realistic of the dangers of F1 at the time than senna, hence his calculated approach of being fast but not exceeding the limits of the machinery. Senna would push 100 all the time, while Prost would push hard but not want to risk possible death.
This is what Prost said the day where Senna's accident happened.
"That's a guy who did the same job as myself, and who lived at 100, maybe 110 % his passion, where I was at 95 %. He was able to take all risks for the win."
I always say that you should measure a driver by their performance against their team mate as you get an idea of what that car was capable of. What he did at Ferrari was brilliant, challenging Senna in a great McLaren. He was a true great
Definitely the right thumbnail there. Great and excellently directed that documentary film was, it unquestionably did a lot of damage towards Prost's legacy and a lot of fans at the time that weren't from that period of time as well the Media latched onto it and began to question his greatness as a result of it. I mean it basically portrays him as the straight villain.
I've watched the extended version of the doc first, in wich Prost is made out to be a fierce rival who eventualy became Senna's friend in the end. After that, I've found out that it wasn't the first version. I then watched the 2010 original release and holy shit, it paints Prost as a much less nuanced antagonist, almost a villain.
It's very telling for me that some of the creators of "Senna" work on creating DTS. They love to twist the facts if it serves a sexier narrative.
Yes I would agree with Prost but also think Sir Jack Brabham was really underrated as well, Like he really won a world title with his very own team.
That’s the equivalent of stroll making his own team back in the day since everyone was just a rich kid in f1 back then. Nothing special
@@AZBCDEE you have the honor of being the guy with the most number of stupid comments in youtube.. no doubt..
@@AZBCDEE has stroll won a championship through?
@@amadif1793 competition was much lower back then.
You’ve got Ferrari red bull Mercedes nowadays as well as alpine as an upcoming force. Strolls money nowadays wouldn’t be more than what brands make. Back then it was easier to be richer than brands if you were a rich man
@@AZBCDEE More like Adrian Newey founding a race team and becoming champion.
One of the best videos I’ve seen in a long time on F1, and I watch a few a day. Prost’s interview with Nico Rosberg which I think was about a year ago gave me great respect for him. I was not his fan during his career because his driving style was not exciting. I was a huge Mansell fan, and continue to be. For me the 80s was the greatest era in Formula One. So many really good champions racing against each other and the money wasn’t outrageous. This is a fine video and it raised my level of appreciation for Prost. I’m not a sports person in general but I’m an F1 fanatic. It’s been fun to follow for decades. I will share this with my buddies, especially the ones who were not into F1 in the 20th century, especially the wills turbo era which I loved, would tape races on my Sony Betamax, and watch them again while editing for the next event. So I’m the days off 16 races, I typically watched 32 times.
My dad was a great fan of him so he always told me his greatness. Eventually growing up I understood Prost's legacy and I'm shocked that very few people name him when talking about the most talented drivers ever
As a massive Prost fan, thank you for putting this content out there
Ive always been a Prost Fan before Senna.
When you look at he's stats and just how little he DNF due to his own mistakes and points scored its amazing
He was in title fights an incredible amount of years during his career with or without the best car.
If you watch the entire 88-89 season of F1 he the got the best of Senna in the same car, many times by just being patient and attacking at the right moment. These highlights rarely get shown.
He was the master of saving tires and even Fuel for just when they were needed
Yeah his way of driving really seems to give his car some sort of extra reliability (except Renault I guess 😂).
Mexico 1990, Prost's most magnificent performance.
Excellent. Highlighting the quality of his team-mates is essential in understanding just how good Prost was. 3 of his 4 World Titles were won with a World Champion team-mate (Lauda 85, Rosberg 86, Senna 89) and the 4th with a future World Champion (Hill 1993). Allez Alain!
@Richard Moore the McLaren wasn't poor per se, as Ron Dennis himself said they had a very strong car with great electronics (considered the best TC for rainy conditions), it's that the Williams had a much better engine with slightly better driver aids
Lauda finished only 3 races in 1985. Rosberg maintains that the only decent Mclaren car he got in 1986 was in Adelaide. Senna in 1989 blew Prost off the road. Prost never beat Senna once on the road for the entire season. Hill was a rookie in 1993 who maintains he was under team orders in 1993
Alan Prost may be one o a very few person on this world that can come to Brazil and be respected by all......we miss you Alan, came visit us.
Everybody talks about Senna like he was unbeatable, but no one mentions that Prost outscored him in both of their seasons as teammates. I mean in one way Senna was unbelievable over one lap, but sometimes he would do more than required and Monaco 1988 is the perfect example.Qualified 1.5 seconds faster, created a 1 minute gap, BUT he shunted the car into the wall for no reason at all. So yes Senna was the fastest driver, but Prost would deliver as consistently as any other great driver in F1 history(Alonso is the one of the modern era that is the most similar to him)
Interesting story about that crash at Monaco, the team actually asked Senna to slow down worrying he might crash pushing so hard, and Senna obeyed, and then crushed, cause slowing down made him cautious of the driving, brought him back from that ""trans" state of his. I think it was this race where he made his famous claim that on the track he transcended and felt god, or something like that. That what made Senna magical, you can't deny that. He could do things even Prost couldn't understand how they were possible.
But I would agree that Prost was perhaps a more complete racer. They were two opposites, that what made their rivalry truly legendary. It's a shame Prost image got distorted
When Prost beat the lap record, the team reported it to Senna and he also lost his concentration..
Prost has all the best laps in monaco between 1988 and 1991...
Leclerc is a perfect modern example of a driver having great pace but not as consistent. Leclerc might well be quicker on raw pace then Verstapen but verstapen is bloody consistent and rarely makes errors.
Senna shunted the car because Prost was starting to set fastest laps one after another and closing on him. You can draw conclusions: 1. Prost could go faster than Senna in this race, 2. Prost exploited Senna's weakness intentionally, 3. Senna could have been a much more succesful driver if he kept his head cool.
@@maxlefou81 Funny that. The record books give the 1988 and 1990 Monaco fastest laps to Senna. They must be wrong
Many things about Prost have already been said, the fact he is a 4 times WC, the fact he was 12.5 points of being and 8 times WC, the fact he beat 5 (future) WCs as teammates, the fact he had way fewer mechanical DNFs than his rivals and so on.
I do feel like another aspect that is often overlooked and/or underappreciated is his longevity as a top driver and his willingness and ability to adapt to pretty much any team, car and situation. He came into the sport when Turbo were on the rise. He put in some amazing drives as a youngster for Renault, using their turbo engines to great effect when they didn't blow up, which brought him within 2 points of the 1983 Championship. Then he returned to McLaren as the 2nd driver, completing legend Niki Lauda and learner a lot from him and they had 2 amazing fights for the Championship with Prost beating Lauda in 1985 after coming close in 1984. After Lauda left, he became the new leader of the team and won another Championship against the vastly superior Williams of Mansell and Piquet and got a respectable 4th place in 1987. Turbos got banned after 1987 and Prost urged Ron Dennis to get Senna over the rest because he clearly saw his potential. The McLaren MP 4/4 was one of the most dominant F1 cars of all time, but Prost got the hang of it and was able to outscore Senna even if the later got the title. In 1989 he struck back and got the title against a ferocious Senna. After that he left and found himself in an absolutely atrocious Ferrari and a wild Mansell as teammate. The fact he even dragged that thing to be a Championship contender is a miracle in itself and another testimony to his skill. In 1991, he simply had no chance and rightfully tore Ferrari a new one, and he still finished 5 overall. After being out for a year, he came back for one final time in what is most likely the most advanced F1 car we've ever seen. Many of the older drivers struggled with the rise of the Turbos during the 80es and then the rise of technological advancement in the early 90es. Not so Prost, he got the hang of that spaceship within a few races and drove it to one final Hurrah before retiring for good.
So yeah, Prose raced for 4 different teams during his career, all of his 10 teammates were, podium finishers, 8 of them were race winners, 5 of them were champions, he outscored them all and never finished worse than 5th outside his debut season, during 3 different eras of F1 and with one of the most competitive grids we have ever seen.
I've rarely seen a driver being so consistent and competitive, no matter the circumstances. Even the likes of Schumacher and Hamilton had years when they struggled with rule changes, a new team or just had to play catch up. Or if we look at Prosts eternal rival Senna. He was quick at Toleman and Lotus, but he lacked the constancy to really be a WDC contender. His 1990 and 91 titles were partially won cause, while he was still quick and rutheless, he did adapt some of Prosts philosophy to become more consistent himself. After Williams rose again in 1992 and 1993, he struggled to keep pace. And while sadly we haven't seen much of his time a Williams, the start of the 1994 season is clear evidence that he struggled to bring out the full potential of the WIlliams. Prost rarely had such struggles, he simply adapted and kept being a threat.
How was 1985 an 'amazing fight'? Lauda only finished 3 races and scored only 14 points. They had one amazing fight which Lauda won.
Prost didn't urge Ron Dennis to get Senna 'over the rest'. Prost had the choice of Senna or Piquet as stipulated by Honda and he didn't want Piquet.
Watch the 1990 season again. Prost's Ferrari on par with Senna's Mclaren
Senna was in contention for the 1986 WDC until Estoril, the third last race. He only fell out of contention when his Lotus ran out of fuel at Estoril while lying second. Funnily enough had Senna not run out of fuel at Estoril, Prost wouldn't have been champion in 1986.
'After Williams rose again in 1992 and 1993 he [Senna] struggled to keep pace' How come Prost's 4th place in 1987 is 'respectable' but Senna's 4th in 1992 and 2nd in 1993 are 'struggling to keep pace'? Was Prost 'struggling for pace ' in 1991 considering he was further behind Senna in 1991 than Senna was to Mansell in 1992?
That stat about Senna being team-mates with Lauda, Piquet, Rosberg, Senna and Hill without loosing a single inter-team battle under the modern points system surely says it all.
He may not have been as big a personality as Senna, or as good at qualifying 1st, but he was probably the best all-round driver of the 80s/90s and perhaps all time. 7 potential championships in àn era where multiple teams can win and your team-mate is also a multiple champion is insane.
I have him as the GOAT, that 1986 season was probably the best individual season performance ever in F1
I think the video makes a lot of good points. When I was a kid I probably underappreciated Prost because his driving wasn't flashy, it wasn't eye catching. He didn't go diving up the inside much, he didn't pull many wild moves to keep drivers behind him. He didn't make risky passes on backmarkers. His style was fast and smooth. He didn't drive faster or more recklessly than he had to. Which made Prost less interesting to watch than Senna or Mansell, but it got him results. As an adult I became a much greater fan of Prost, and just how careful, how smooth he was. He was playing chess while his competition was often playing poker.
Prost was sublime.
Check his teammates :he beat them all.
As to his record it's simply incredible.
That Senna documentary (and life since 1994) does paint Senna as an innocent and perfect saint, only 3rd to Jesus himself and Lewis Hamilton, while omitting his obvious character flaws. The ending did soften Prost's villainous portrayal tho.
That film is indeed a great disservice to Prost's achievements, and every objective spectator at the time knows Senna was by no means a saint, far from it.
Prost was no saint either
Prost is the epitome of a Grand Prix driver, the complete package. He could easily be regarded as the GOAT. To me, it's between him and Schumi, could go either way...
Totally agree...as a kid or my parents never were prost fans,but now as a more mature fan and a wannabe sim racer i appreciate Prost the most pre my era... litteraly reminds me of Alonso pre Alonso
FINALLY!!
Thanks so much for saying what I've thought for years. Prost's championships were won against five past, current, and future world champions. Nobody since then has had a higher level of quality teammates to race against.
Alain is one of the top 5 F1 drivers of all time- easily. No driver applied intelligence better to his racing than Prost- no one. It's easy to underappreciate Alain because he was an unspectacular driver who drove in such a way that made it look so easy- he made those 1,300 hp+ manual turbo monsters look so easy to drive, you'd think your Grandma could drive them. Prost wasn't in-your-face great- he was great in a way that was harder to understand. And also in 1988, the scoring system was really strange- only the best 11 of 16 results counted. If that didn't exist, then Prost would have been champion with 105 points to Senna's 94. And the Senna documentary- Prost wasn't the bad guy so much as the rival. Balestre was the bad guy.
Absolutely spot-on. I never like Prost as a kid watching F1, but now looking back, he's clearly one of the greatest drivers ever to grace the sport. Fantastic job on the video!
I would very much agree with you, and I think you have put across a very good argument for Prost and his mentality when racing. He was known as the professor, for very good reason. He would race at whatever pace was required to win, and he won a lot during his career, so cannot ever be underestimated. His association with Senna was both caustic and revealing, after all he was invited by the family to be one of the pall bearers at Ayrton’s funeral, so there was real respect there between them I believe.
I think that he was involved in Sennas charity
Alain Prost was the greatest name of F1 in 1980’s and he didn’t lose in 88 to Senna, for he outscored Senna in both seasons 88 and 89. The discard pointing system gave the championship to Senna.
I’ve always said that Prost was the greatest f1 driver ever to drive an f1 car. I’ve worked as an F1 mechanic in the late 80s to early 90s so I was fortunate to be there and see him race along with the other greats and he was so gifted. Every year he was fighting for the championship 😊
Prost is by far my favorite driver of the 80's and early 90's. Dude drove well in 3 distinct eras.
His nickname is apt, he drove fast and steady, nothing flashy and his personality is...subdued. He was overshadowed by by Lauda and Senna, because of their large personas.
A lot of the changes put into place by Todt and Schumi was something Prost wanted all along in the early 90s.
Great video. Both Prost and Senna are all time top 5 drivers in my opinion and should both be appreciated for the enormous amount of talent they had. It's sad when fans of one driver try to "prove" their favourite is better by trying to tear the other down. It's not just about how much you win, but against who you win and both of Prost and Senna won against the best of their time because they were the best.
Senna is not top 5, maybe top 10. Prost, Clark, Stewart, Fangio, Ascari, Alonso, Hamilton, Schumacher, Piquet; all better than him.
I've been watching classic F1 races for a while now, mainly 80s and 90s, before I started following the sport, and I must say, I've always been a Senna fan. These races have made me appreciate Senna even more, but also Prost, Mansell and, to an extent, Nelson Piquet.
In the case of Prost, man, he might not have been flashy, but some of his performances are absolutely phenomenal, like Mexico 1990, where he won starting way back in the grid, or South Africa 1984, where he finished second after starting from the pit lane. And let's not forget about Australia 1986, which, in my opinion, is one of the absolute greatest F1 races of all time.
Senna is still my favorite driver, but Prost deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest drivers ever too.
In Austria "Prost!" means "Cheers!" and so a drinking game started, that whenever the commentators said his name, you had to take a sip.
the more 80' races i watch the more i think Alain was the real GOAT of f1
I agree 120% with your opinon.
Prost is a driver who has won far less than he deserved.
In addition to the 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993 championships, he could have also won the 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1990 championships, which he lost due to various misfortunes.
If he had won 9 championships, no one today could accuse him of stealing something.
PS: it should also be emphasized that Prost won 51 GPs and 4 Championships running among the lions (Lauda, Piquet, Mansell, Rosberg, Senna) and not in the desert like Schumacher and Hamilton, and having very strong teammates (Arnoux, Lauda, Rosberg, Mansell, Senna, Hill), not gregarious like Barrichello or Bottas.
Arguably, Prost was the best Formula 1 driver of all time.
If he had raced in the same conditions as Schumacher and Hamilton he would have won more than 100 GPs and a dozen F1 World Championships !!!!
It's interesting that when you say that he focused entirely on the Sunday instead of the Saturday, that's exactly what Lauda did to him in 1984. Lauda said that he realized that he couldn't beat Prost in qualifying, so he focused entirely on the race setup, often winning from far back.
I remember watching F1 with my dad when I was very young. Prost was the guy who would beat the fan favourites. Doesn't matter how good you are, if people don't like you they will always try to discredit you.
Thanks for making this video. Maybe it will help to show him in a better light to more people.
Prost my favorite driver since I started to watch F1 as a kid with my uncle back in 1985. We had a battle since he was a senna fan, and I was a Prost fan
Also worth mentioning his seasons with Rene Arnoux and John Watson - largely forgotten now but at the time both were considered among the best in the paddock and had realistic shots at the WDC.
I follwed Alain throughout his career and the most amazing story I heard was that his race engineer at McLaren would have to ask him when he was on a hot lap because he could never tell visually. That is just an incredible example of how smooth his driving style was. A great example of his driving discipline was his during his first seaon at Renault when he won at Zandvoort after waiting patiently for his delicate Michelin's to bed in.
I think the Prost Team did his legacy no favours sadly.
He was seen as the big rival of probably the most beloved driver, whose story in F1 and this world could never be really closed up on because of how it ended.
Seeing his rival fail at that just shifted the view many had of him, and treat his legacy a bit... dismissively.
Another wonderful video Aldas that needed to be made. I felt the same way as you but I needed this appraisal to provide the review of Alain’s career to confirm why I appreciate him more than others seem to. He was superb and don’t forget so fast when he needed to be. Interviews with him are a joy and a lesson in clear and direct.thinking. No waffle from Alain! You are a clear thinking guy too - most enjoyable.
I feel the same! I always wanted your detailed perspective on Prost! Thanks for the amazing video, Aldas!!!
Not fastest but most complete driver of F1 history. Excellent driver, mastermind of perfecting set-up and managing tires and brakes and brilliant strategist. Challenging Senna throughout the entire 1990 season with that fragile Ferrari car is just incredible and should have deserved him some kind of extra trophy. Mansell finishing behind Berger proves what a 🗑️ unreliable car the Ferrari was compared to McLaren. Ferrari should hire him as strategist. If Prost said "we are checking" I wouldn’t be worried. 😅
'..that fragile Ferrari car' Get real. The 1990 Ferrari was easily on par with Senna's Mclaren. Six race wins each and only a 121-110 win in the constructors for Mclaren. Cesare Fiorio maintains the Ferrari was the better car and they should have won the title. He blames Prost and Mansell not working together for them not doing so.
Alain Prost had 41 fastest laps, this is the #4 of all time today. A slow driver wouldn't have such record.
@@longde Prost collected fastest laps. He admitted this in Life in the Fast Lane.
@@John-mi2rt11 mechanical DNFs to 4. It was fragile, at least relative to the McLaren
@@clubpenguin13531 Why are you including both Prost and Mansell in Ferrari's total but only Senna in Mclaren's?
Prost had three failures in 1990, the same number as Senna. Prost's Ferrari was not more fragile
Most people rate Senna on what ifs after his death. But his story could have been a Sebastian Vettel post Red Bull.
Tbf senna was older than vettel was so maybe he could have adpatped faster than vettel in ferrari not to mention williams was the best team while ferrari had some things to fix
On of the most idiotic comments ive ever seen - you understand almost ZERO about F1 - in fact i doubt youve been following for more than few years
I had the chance to meet Alain and shake his hand and congratulate him for his exceptional career, he is one of the greatest on so many different cars and in competition you need a threshold to measure with and Alain was definitely one of these threshold which made our best F1 years thanks for this excellent coverage of this legend
Ur right in everything u said ....am senna fan but sure prost was a big part of this great era ..he was a professor for sure .......such a great drivers
The Senna documentary did a hatchet job on Prost. Yeah, all films need it's protagonist and antagonist but the way it depicted Prost as the 'establishment guy' who got lucky sticks in the throat. It actually got to the point where the film made such an effort to delegitimise Senna's rivals to the extent that it delegitimise his own success. If it couldn't be bothered to explain what made Prost so special then it doesn't make Ayrton that special. It's a great piece of filmmaking, very emotive and made to appeal to the non f1 fan demographic. But I would take it's perspective with a hefty pinch of salt.
Prost was and is a legend. His thoughtfulness and meticulous nature exemplified his beautiful, precise racing style. In and out of the cockpit he perfected the art and dare I say was the template for the likes of Schumacher to take it further.
Prost was basically an enhanced version of Lauda, cold and calculating mixed with perfection
Absolutely spot on. Prost is my favourite driver of all time personally. He is my earliest memory of watching F1, back in 1993. He made the sport look like anyone could do it, such was his style behind the wheel. You’d have to compare his driving style to what was required back in the 60s, where flair just wiped speed off. He would be right up there at the front in any era.
Fantastic video keep it up you're doing a great job and Prost was my dad's favourite driver at the time.
This is a great perspective. For anyone who wants to hear more to the Prost story I highly recommend his interview in the Nico Rosberg podcast a while back. Very well done and insightful. Also, you can see on that interview that despite public perception, Prost seems very satisfied with his accomplishments in F1, and speaks about the past without bitterness (in my opinion).
I love your videos. This one was amazing. I started watching F1 right after Prost retired so the only memories I have of him is as team owner with Prost Grand Prix (Ligier).
You make me want to see and learn more about him 😊
Alain Prost is for me the greatest driver of all time. He has an unmatched combination of intelligence and speed.
Prost has to be one to be in the top 2 greatest drivers with Fangio.
One of your most interesting episodes Aldas. Very illuminating. 👊🏻
the fact that he wasn't very good in the rain in general is a factor in him not being as highly rated as some of his competitors. The horror crash with Pironi at Hockenheim '82 is probably a factor in that he never fully went to the limit in the wet after that.
You need not worry, long time F1 supporters appreciate his skill.
Whilst it is fun to retrospectively apply different point systems to previous eras, that's about as useful as it is, because if those points systems were in play at the time, teams and drivers would have made different decisions. Sometimes pushing harder to secure more points (because they needed them, for example), which may have caused them to crash or experience mechanical failures, or play it safe to bring the car home ... there by avoiding crashes they actually had etc etc.
Completely agree. This is the exact reason why I think Senna deserved the 1988 title despite winning it due to drop scores and actually scoring less points than Prost. It wasn't like the drivers were told of these rules after the season, they were fully aware of the drop scores during the season. Senna's more aggressive driving style simply suited the drop score system more, so he deserved that championship.
@@patepulkkinenvtec2403 Yea, in my eyes, Senna's a cheat, soooo, whatevs 🤣
That's exactly why Prost didnt win more back then. He was very smooth and didnt take risks others took, so he was ahead most of the time in the big picture because his lows were not as low as the others
But back then they erased the worst race results of the season, that is why Senna got ahead of him in the standings
Prost would be much more suited to todays rules
"Schumacher would have only won 6 titles" is the perfect example of this. He would have lost the title in 1994, but he would have made up for this by winning in 1997. He would have been far enough ahead of Villeneuve to not have to crash into him in an attempt to win the title, so he wouldn't have been disqualified.
@@JCPRacing the whole point of racing is to take races lol. That’s why Prost is hated. He never took a risk. He was a Pussy and yes man.
You are really a good Human being
thanks for making justice where and
when it matter. Always very well balanced.
I feel like Prost is overshadowed by Senna. Not because of driving skill or achievements by any means but because of how renowned Senna’s story is with F1 fans and non F1 fans alike. I mean if you think today with how many fans there are that came after lets say the time DTS released compared to how many fans were there before and know their history, that are still in the community today… The difference is huge. I feel if Senna had never passed away so early, and especially the way he did too, Prost would get much more recognition that he does now as one of the greatest racing drivers to ever step foot in a 4 wheeled vehicle’s greatest rival. One of the only drivers to hold a candle to the great Ayrton Senna.
A further comment from me is that the “Comments” pages read very well with a good considered fair feel to them. You have a deserved nice set of followers and I’m happy to be one! Never liked the Senna film as it was not fair to Alain - steeling myself to watch Villeneuve - Pironi. Will it be fair to both?
Excellent vid. I mean, I always knew he was one of the fastest drivers, but those stats you presented blew my mind. Only beaten twice by two of those teammates by a combined total of 3.5 points? Yeah, underappreciated is the word.
Great video mate👏🏻
He was the king of the 80's hands down
Prost's philosophy was to win races at the slowest possible pace: by doing this he was able to look after tyres and brakes and it was very common for him to be lying third or fourth at two thirds distance. But then he would start to take advantage of the fact that his car was in much better condition than those of the drivers in front of him and would relatively easily pass them for the win. Trouble is that it's not as exciting as going hell for leather from the word go. We often hear people saying that certain drivers only win because their team mates are not that good (Schumacher, Hamilton, Verstappen come to mind) but regardless of the truth or otherwise of that, it can never be said about Prost.
Absolutely superb video. Thank you for making it. The only item I will take some issue with is in the reference to the Senna movie as being a documentary. While Senna was categorized as a 'documentary' it was more of a docu-drama where historical footage was very selectively chosen to show a very particular view (that of Senna as a hero and Prost as a villain). This is supported by the director of the film who I was able to question at a Q&A screening on this very point. He very clearly explained that the film was NEVER intended to be a historical documentary that gives a balanced view on historical events. As such Prost was made out to be the bad guy very intentionally. Unfortunately too many people learned everything they know about Senna from that one movie and lack the full picture to understand that era and the people better.
Prost has always been my favorite driver. When a reporter asked Bernie Ecclestone who was the best driver in F1, he named Prost as his choice. Whenever I approached Prost in the pits, he always had time to talk. Whenever I approached Senna, all he would do is snarl and tell you to fuck off. Prost was the last of the modern era gentleman drivers, and he had mega talent with tons of cunning race craft. Great video.
Hey Aldas, love these driver profile vids. Any chance the next one could be Jenson Button?
Great video, would love to see a series of similar videos, of underappreciated drivers.
there are a few that spring to mind of more modern times the likes of Jenson button, Nico Rosberg and I suppose even Sebastian Vettel's world championships are under appreciated, the guy won his first without ever leading the championship throughout the year, then winning three more back to back, in cars that actually (after the mercedes years and even now the current red bull dominance) were not as dominant as you think they were when you watch those seasons again. Vettel was just that good.
Very well put together video! I’m not a Prost fan but I have always asked my self the same question why is he so unappreciated?? He’s definitely one of the greatest and stats speak for them self as well. 😊
Because he was the rival of the best and most appreciated driver… simple as that! But he is a fenomenal driver, no doubt about it
Thank you for this video. Prost's career has always been shadowed by Senna. People have forgotten what a legendary driver Prots was.
He raced against the best, beat them on a consistant basis yet no one seems to mention him as one of the GOATS.
He had the best style, slow gradual breaking rather than late with indecent haste. This minimalist style preserved his cars thus making him very competitive through out the duration of races, rather than blowing turbos, destroying tyres prematurely.
Hell yes! I've always felt he's atleast top 5. Probably top 3. Good to see him get some props.
Thank you for this video, you hit a home run. I've been saying this for years, I started out as a hard core Senna fan and the more research I did and the more old races I watched the more I started to Realize......Prost is low key better. Maybe not "quicker" but consistency over a season I think he is one of the goats. 4 championships, 4 runner ups, 5 world champions as teammates all beaten by Prost. That Senna movie did a great job painting him as a villan.
Michael Schumacher would still have 7 world titles if the sport had always been run to the 25 points system he scored more points than Villeneuve with that system
Prost is 6th on my list of worlds greatest motor racers of all time and I believe he deserves far more respect than what he gets, he could have easily been a 9x World Champion had it not been for reliability issues on his fragile cars that he drove during his time in the sport, if I had to choose between Prost and Senna I’d take Prost every day of the week
He is under-appreciated simply because he's alive and didn't take attention-seeking risks.
I’ve watched Senna and Prost racing live, from around 1988 until they retired. It is just like it is with Verstappen today. Senna was so good that everybody rooted for him, F1 bosses and team bosses favored him, so he got away with so many things that others didn’t. Senna was the hero, everyone else was the villain. And just like with Verstappen, this doesn’t take away the fact that they are just the best drivers on the grid, and they are unbeatable anyway when they are at their best.
More videos about Prost, please!!
One of the most intelligent videos I ve ever seen about f1, congrats 👏