Alain Prost Born: 24 February 1955, St Chamond, France Grand Prix starts: 199 Grand Prix victories: 51 Points total: 798.5 World Champion: 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993
Alain Prost became the second man to win the world championship four times, following Fangio into the record books.
His smooth and calculated driving style and mastery of tactics earned him his nickname: 'The Professor'. He made his F1 debut in 1980 for McLaren, taking a poor car to sixth place on his debut in Buenos Aires, and showing his enormous potential. This was confirmed when he moved to Renault in 1981, winning three races to finish fifth, just 7 points behind champion Piquet. A third place in 1982 was improved to that of runner-up behind Piquet the following year.
On returning to McLaren in 1984 Prost won a remarkable seven races, but he again had to settle for the runner-up spot, half a point behind team-mate Niki Lauda.
Prost took the 1985 championship with two races to spare and retained the title after getting the better of the Williams pair Mansell and Piquet in a three-way showdown in Australia in 1986. Mansell's tyre blew and Piquet was brought in for a precautionary stop, leaving Prost to win both the race and the title.
The Williams team dominated 1987, but McLaren hit back in 1988, with Prost and new team-mate Senna between them winning is of the 16 races, and Senna taking the title by 3 points. The positions were reversed in 1989, their crash at Suzuka settling the championship in Prost's favour, but he was again consigned to runner-up spot behind Senna in 1990. A poor season followed, after which he took a year's sabbatical. Driving for Williams in 1993, he replaced reigning champion Mansell, and added seven more victories to his tally to claim his fourth world crown before retiring.
