Alain Prost

Biography

Alain Marie Pascal Prost was born on 24 February 1955 in Lorette, near Saint-Chamond in the Loire. He started karting at 14 and won the French senior karting title in 1975. Single-seater titles followed every year: French Formula Renault in 1976, European Formula Renault in 1977, French Formula Three in 1978, and both the European and French Formula Three championships in 1979.

Prost made his Formula One debut with McLaren at the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix and scored a point first time out. After moving to Renault he won his first Grand Prix in 1981, in France at Dijon, and in 1983 he lost the title to Nelson Piquet by two points. Back at McLaren in 1984 he finished half a point behind his team-mate Niki Lauda, the closest finish in Formula One history. In 1985 he became France's first Formula One world champion, and he defended the title in 1986.

With Ayrton Senna as his McLaren team-mate he won a third title in 1989, decided by their collision at Suzuka. At Ferrari he was runner-up to Senna in 1990, but the team dismissed him before the final race of 1991. After a sabbatical year he drove for Williams, won the 1993 championship and retired with 51 wins and 33 pole positions. He bought Ligier in February 1997 and ran it as Prost Grand Prix until 2001. Later he co-owned the Renault e.dams Formula E team and advised Renault, later Alpine, from 2017 to 2021.