Alain Prost Trivia Quiz

Answer: France, 1955

Born in Saint-Chamond in 1955, Prost was an active child, participating in many sports during his childhood such as wrestling and football, which may have contributed to that nose! A fling with karting on a family holiday at the age of 14 set Prost on his way to a Formula One career.

Answer: Formula Renault

Having been karting since 1970, Prost soon progressed to become a proficient karter, and was awarded a seat in Formula Renault for the 1976 season. He soon delivered results, winning successive Formula Renault titles in his debut year in 1976 and another in 1977 before moving on to Formula Three.

Answer: European Formula Three Championship

Prost continued his domination of the junior categories during the late 1970s, dominating the French championship in both years but also delivering the goods in the European theatre, and by the end of the year was on the shopping list for numerous Formula One teams for the 1980 season.

Answer: 6th

Prost became a part of a select group by scoring a point on his debut when he brought his McLaren-Ford home in 6th place on his debut in Buenos Aires. His first season at McLaren was a learning curve for the young Frenchman, as the McLaren-Ford of that season was not a worldbeater, but Prost managed more points scoring drives in Brazil, Britain and Holland. Prost finished 15th overall in the championship with five points.

Answer: 1981 French Grand Prix

After scoring his first podium at the 1981 Argentinian Grand Prix, Prost would win his first grand prix on home soil at the French Grand Prix held at Dijon. Prost won two further races in 1981, in Holland and Italy. He finished 5th overall in the championship with 43 points.

Answer: 2

Prost had a magnificent start to the 1982 championship, winning the first two races in South Africa and Brazil, but after that it was a troubled season. The Renault had major reliability issues, particularly in regards to the engine, with numerous spectacular turbo failures for both Prost and Arnoux during the season. Prost would finish on the podium only twice more in the next 14 races, with second place finishes in France and Switzerland. Prost finished 4th overall with 34 points.

Answer: 57 points

Nelson Piquet just pipped Prost to the title in his Brabham-BMW, and would thus take the first World Championship for a turbocharged car. Prost led the title chase for most of the season, with wins in France, Belgium, Britain and Austria, plus podiums in San Marino, Monaco and the European GP.

However, it was three retirements in the final four races that handed the championship to Nelson Piquet.

Answer: Niki Lauda

Prost moved from Renault to partner Niki Lauda at McLaren-Porsche in 1984 after falling out with Renault management during the 1983 season. Prost would win his first race for McLaren in Brazil, and added further wins in San Marino, Monaco (half-points), Germany, Holland, European GP and Portugal.

However, it was the consistency of Niki Lauda, who only won five races but added four second places to that, which cost Prost the title.

Answer: 9

Prost dominated the 1985, learning from Niki Lauda by mixing his undoubted speed with a consistency and smoothness which, allied to the McLaren package, made him near unbeatable at times. Prost won five races and added six more podiums to gain 73 points and the Drivers Title. Prost won only four races in 1986, but consistency proved the key as he only retired twice in 16 races and finished on the podium a total eleven times to just pip the Williams-Honda's of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet at the final race in Australia.

Answer: Senna and Honda

After a difficult 1987 season, Prost was joined at McLaren for the 1988 season by the young Brazilian Ayrton Senna and along with him came Honda engines, who broke their Williams contract to join McLaren. The alliance between all these factors contributed to McLaren-Honda dominating the 1988 season, winning 15 of 16 races and easily taking both titles. Prost won seven races that season, but Senna eight races and the Brazilian ace pipped Prost to the title at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Answer: Ferrari

Prost won a third World Championship for McLaren in 1989, but the situation between himself and his team-mate Senna deteriorated during the 1989 season to the point that Prost felt he had to leave the team. This was exacerbated by Prost's fury that he felt Senna was receiving more help from the team and favourtism from Honda, and he also fell out with Senna concerning incidents such as that at San Marino Grand Prix in 1989 where Senna was alleged to have broken a pre-race agreement. All these incidents were topped by their infamous clash at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, where Senna and Prost clashed at the chicance. Prost retired from the race on the spot, Senna resumed, won but was later disqualified and Prost won the title.

Answer: 7

Prost returned to Formula One after being forced into a sabattical for the 1992 season. Prost rarely had to stretch himself for the season as the Williams-Renault package dominated the season (as it had in 1992), and at times he was made to look ordinary by Senna in an inferior McLaren-Ford. Prost still won seven races overall, and took the title on 99 points.

However, the world was shocked at the final race in Adelaide where Senna and Prost embraced on the podium as the greatest rivalry in Formula One came to and end with the Frenchman's retirement.

Answer: The Professor

Prost employed a smooth, unruffled driving style, based on his heroes from the 1960s such as Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart. He had a keen mechincal brain and was mechanically sensitive, sacrificing qualifying speed to make sure his car was set-up right for the race.

However, during his early Formula One years, Prost proved he was also stunningly quick, particularly at Renault where he took numerous pole positions.

Answer: Ligier

Prost bought the Ligier Formula One team off Flavio Briatore in February 1997 after any chance of a Prost-Renault partnership was ended by Renault's refusal to supply him engines. He renamed the Ligier team 'Prost Grand Prix' and hired Olivier Panis and Shinji Nakano for the 1997 season.

The team started extremely well, with Panis mixing it with the top guns during the start of the season until his leg-breaking crash at the Canadian Grand Prix. After that, the season spluttered to the end but Prost still finished sixth in the Constructors Championship in 1997 with 21 points.

Answer: Ferrari

After struggling with heavy, slow and unreliable Peugeot engines from 1998-2000, Prost looked towards Ferrari for the 2001 engine. Ferrari eventually gave engines, but at a hefty price and they were renamed 'Acer' as the company provided sponsorship for the team.

However, Prost was now surviving on a shoestring budget and although Jean Alesi managed to score four points, he walked out on the team after the German Grand Prix, and after some heavy accidents for his drivers that resulted in a hefty damage bill, Prost was forced to declare his team bankrupt before the start of the 2002 season.