Alain Prost

Alain Marie Pascal Prost was born on February 24, 1955, in Lorette, Loire, France. He came from a modest background and discovered karting as a teenager before progressing through French and European Formula Three before reaching Formula One. He made his Grand Prix debut in 1980 and quickly established a reputation for precise, smooth driving that minimized mechanical stress while maximizing consistent results.

Prost won his first World Championship with McLaren in 1985 and followed it with a second title in 1986. His partnership with Niki Lauda at McLaren in 1984, where he lost the championship to his teammate by half a point, was one of the defining intra-team battles of the decade. He won a third championship with McLaren in 1989, that year navigating a famously antagonistic partnership with Ayrton Senna that ended with a collision at the Japanese Grand Prix.

After a year away from racing in 1992 he returned with Williams and won his fourth World Championship in 1993, adding to his title count with a competitive package that enabled him to demonstrate his strategic mastery and consistency once more. He announced his retirement at the end of that season. At the time of his retirement, he held the record for the most Formula One Grand Prix victories.

His rivalry with Ayrton Senna is considered one of the most intense and historically significant in the history of motorsport, encompassing philosophical differences about risk, racing philosophy, and team dynamics that played out across three seasons and several teams. Prost was widely regarded as the complete racing driver: consistently fast, technically informed, and able to manage races over their full distance.

After retiring, Prost remained involved in motorsport as a team owner with Prost Grand Prix in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and later as an adviser and ambassador for several major manufacturers. He is regarded as the greatest French sportsman in the history of Formula One.