Alain Prost gained McLaren’s esteem on Paul Ricard’s racetrack, during the practice session, he was faster than John Watson.
On 13th January 1980, the F3 French champion, nicknamed “The Professor”, appeared for the first time in an F1 GP, in Argentina. It was a much-discussed debut, he came sixth with the McLaren-Ford. It was a season marked by several mechanical breakdowns and two accidents: at Kyalami and Watkins Glenn. According to the team, the accident in the USA was caused by a mistake of his and in anger, he tore up his contract with them.

During the next three seasons, he drove a Renault. His divorce from Régie came straight after the race at Kyalami. Prost would have liked to keep the news secret, in order to negotiate with another team, but a French newspaper published the news. The French driver went back to the team of his debut: McLaren Tag-Porsche.
He would go on to stay with Ron Dennis’ team until 1989 and he won three world championships with them, in ’85, ’86 and ’89. He was the first French driver to become a world champion.

He spent two years at Ferrari, in 1990 and 1991. He had a thrilling start, with four victories which deceived Fiorio and the team. Prost and Senna, from peace to war…
Alain ended the season second overall. The Professor was fired after the Japanese GP, following his declaration: “I feel like I’m driving a truck”. In 1993, he was in the invincible Williams-Renault team and, on 26th September, he mathematically became the world champion, for the fourth time. He ended the season in glory, stating: “I will never drive an F1 car again”.