Is Alain Prost getting the shaft?

I think he is well respected for sure but more fans will root for the more gutsy, ballsy drivers than the thinking, quietly performing drivers.

Ergo, one reads a lot of Fchat column inches on Senna, Schumacher and G Villeneuve and less of someone like Prost, Stewart, Lauda.

Personally, I respect Prost but adore Senna and Schumacher.

To me Prost's failed attempt at team management doesnt matter. His four world titles and undoubted speed do.

 

His 4 world titles against stellar competition speaks for itself.

Prost would have made one helluva endurance racer... fast and steady.

 

Alain Prost was great, no question. The perfect foil to Ayrton Senna. The both needed the other to achieve true greatness. Those were the golden years of F1.

 

I certainly have not forgotten about Prost. I was a huge fan of Prost's - that is until Senna joined the McLaren team. Not to say that Senna is better than Prost, just more exciting to watch.

I would say the most overlooked multiple champion would have to be Piquet.

 

I would put Schumacher in the same calculating driver category as Prost and Lauda, not the emotional driver category as Senna, Piquet, and Fittipaldi.

As for Prost, he will always be the Professor. Senna got so much attention, but I have always felt that Prost was the better driver. At least he would have been my choice between the two if I had an F1 team.

 

Jack, you have a point. Nobody really talks about him anymore despite his 4 titles. He kinda lost his spotlight once MS matched the 4 titles and then it was downhill from there.

Here on FChat we probably talk less about Alain because his Ferrari days weren't that great (although coming 2nd isn't that bad).

Personally I was a huge fan of Alain. I never was a Senna fan so you can imagine how emotional that rivalry got to me.

 

Prost was incredible. Look at the stress he had with those team mates. The wild arnoux, lauda, senna, and mansell. He dealt with all that plus all the other competition. He made going fast look easy, nothing dramatic.

 

It interesting but i don't think I'd put MS or Senna in either catergory to be honest. Both men just seemed to do what it took to get the job done and could go either way depending on if the situation called for it. Senna was very calculating but also very emotional. MS less so but still had hung it out on many occasions.

 

Just a theory (I'm neutral towards Prost) but IIRC after he retired he made quite a few unfortunate (don't want to call it stupid) observations on the F1 world which took away some of his credibility. I think the same goes for Stewart by the way.

 

I don't remember that (not saying it isn't true, just no recall) and I wonder when that would have been: After his retirement as a driver or as a team manager?

I do remember he was very unhappy as his team collapsed, but the interviews I read were more sad than crazy.

For all I remember the one with the sour grapes statements was Nikki after his first retirement (I no longer see the point in driving in a circle.).

Stewart is a nut.

 

I know I do. But not just today. Always thought that Hunt, Rega, Pironi, Gilles Villeneuve, Jones, Lauda, Piquet and Eddie Irvine are a lot more fun than some of the robots driving around today. The young MS was a lot more interesting and fun to watch than the corporate icon he has become today.

 

As much as I admired Senna's attitude towards racing, I think he needed Prost more than Prost needed him. Senna would copy Prost's suspension settings and car set up, and since Senna was more of an engine man, he knew what the engine would take and where it would deliver best.

 

One should remember, when talking of Prost as "the professor," where he went to school. That would be at the knee of Lauda. Niki outsmarted Alain to the 1984 championship, by half a point. Prost learned the lesson well.

I could go on all day, as all this was back in "my day," but I won't bore you youngsters. Go out and play in the traffic now, children!

 

What was Niki called? "The Computer" or something like that ... shrewd operator if you can exclude his Jaguar foray.

 

Yup, the computer.

Probably one of the, if not simply the smartest F1 drivers there ever was. A true intellectual. Prost, the Professor is very smart too.

 

For me it was Lauda and Senna... knew them both when I was with the sponsor marlboro, there is always the what if's had Senna not left us....so sad Niki is one hell of a guy and was such a smart sharp driver. Senna so consistant and smooth esp. how he handled the wet...miss him.

 

A bit early to ask, but here my $ 0.02:

- Alonso
- Kimi
- Nico

I wish I could add Winkelhock, but he just plain sucks. I still miss his dad.

 

Still remember watching Prost in practice for the 1986 Italian GP. By FAR the smoothest driver in the braking area entering Parabolica. Textbook; Senna's Lotus was jumping around...

 

I think the irony here is our age dictates who we remember well. I watch almost no F1 anymore, and have not since, oh, 1992 or so, simply because ALL of the cars look AND sound the same.

 

Speaking about age, I remember as a kid what a great driver that G.V. was, I really didn't like anybody else until Senna went to McLaren. However, I remember thinking to myself during the early 80's how special Piquet was until I saw Alain at McLaren against Lauda. I always felt that Prost is probably one of the most underrated drivers of all time. For him to win four championships and 51 races is amazing. He had Lauda, Rosberg, Mansell, Arnoux and Senna as teammates. In a car perfectly set up for him, no one including Senna could beat him. Schumacher could learn a few lessons from Prost. First, unlike Michael, Alain would have the best teammate in order to prove himself. Secondly, in his 199 races, Alain made so few mistakes. I always felt that if Senna was not around or the depth of talent in his era of Complex Turbo Cars, Alain would have won 8 WC's and close to 100 races. That is what is so frustrating. Michael never had the level of competition as AP or AS and always had Reliablility which those drivers never had. Oh well...my rant.