Alain Prost’s career in F1 boasts an impressive four World Championships and 51 Grand Prix victories, yet the Frenchman feels that he was “completely underrated” compared to his illustrious peers.
Prost's dominance in the mid-80s with McLaren, securing back-to-back titles in 1985 and 1986, cemented his reputation as a strategic maestro, earning him the nickname "The Professor."
However, his acrimonious rivalry later with his McLaren teammate Ayrton Senna, marked by on-track clashes and controversial team decisions, often painted Prost in a less favorable light.
Adding to the complexity, Prost's 1993 title with Williams came after a year-long sabbatical, and his final season saw him replaced by Senna.
To the great Brazilian’s flamboyant and daring style, adored by the fans, Prost opposed a meticulous and calculated approach.
While Senna's tragic death solidified his iconic status, some argue it inadvertently downplayed Prost's brilliance. And that perceived “underrating” stings the Frenchman.
“I do ask myself sometimes how I am going to be remembered,” Prost said in an interview with MotorSport Magazine.
“It sounds like a joke but I’m completely underrated! I know that. I can see. I don’t know why, but it’s my brand in a way.
“It looks like it stays that way for ever, it is part of the history.
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“Look at my other teammates, [John] Watson, [Rene] Arnoux, [Eddie] Cheever, Niki, Keke, Stefan [Johansson], Nigel [Mansell], Jean [Alesi] and Damon [Hill].
“Nobody talks about them [relative to me]. I had five world champions as team-mates, so it is a bit of a shame.
“But it is the way it is. Today you have social media and everybody is coming back to videos of our fights. Sometimes I don’t understand. My career was not only two or three years.”
While acknowledging Senna's immense talent, Prost argues for a more nuanced understanding of their rivalry, where he was not simply the "calculated" foil to Senna's "natural" genius.
“Ayrton represented more panach, I was the ‘Professor’, clinical,” he said. “He was ‘mystic’ and people liked that.
“When he impressed me I must say it was in qualifying sometimes, I don’t remember when exactly. Never in race conditions. Never.
"In race conditions, in the warm-up, most of the time I was quicker.”
Prost's claim perhaps invites a necessary reassessment. Was he truly underrated?
His statistics speak for themselves, but perhaps the narrative surrounding his calculated style and the Senna rivalry downplayed his raw talent and fighting spirit.
Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate "The Professor," not just for his titles and wins, but for the complete picture of a brilliant mind behind the wheel that left its mark on Formula 1 history.
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