Alain Prost - The greatest F1 driver, ever! Now wearing a suit, that doesn't require a helmet :).
The AP04 - is Prost's car for 2001. Quite an investment! Some people say its the 2000 Ferrari, dressed in blue.
Alain Prost never had it easy. It took many years and many vice-champion titles, for him to finally become F1 World Champion: the first and only french F1 World Champion, ever.
For many seasons, Prost lost titles to Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg. Those were the Renault Turbo (#15) days, a car that had the sad tradition of blowing its engine on the last lap of every race.
When he finally left Renault, he became World Champion, on the Maclaren Porsche Turbo, but only after losing one title to lame Lauda, for 0.5 points, and having *more* wins (in case of having the same points, Prost would win).
It was hard to observe Prost's road and feel that he deserved so much more, yet luck didn't want the partnership. But things changed.
By Australia, 1993 - his last race - Alain Prost won 51 races (record), drove 41 fastest laps (record), scored a total of 798.5 points (record), was the leader of 15 races in a single season (record), did 33 pole positions, finished 2nd place 35 times, finished 3rd place 20 times, finished 4th place 10 times, finished 5th place 5 times and finished 6th place 7times... In other words, Alain Prost scored points in 128 races (record)!
Alain Prost had superb *DUELS* with Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. He fought and won championships to all generations of drivers: Lauda, Piquet, Mansell, Senna and Schumacher.
When Prost left F1, Senna stated that "racing had suddenly become less interesting", and - so sad - Ayrton would die on San Marino 1994, only 3 races after Prost leaving F1.
Senna's death and Prost's stop, left young Michael Schumacher with no adversaries at all (by the time, also Piquet, Mansell and Damon Hill had left F1)... and Schumy did the best he could to score wherever possible. Schumacher now is a menace to Prost's wins record and Senna's poles score. Not fair.
But Prost didn't stop! Prost was back with a team of his own, after buying Ligier!!
2001 is Prost's team 3rd full year on F1. After a terrible 2000 (0 points), Prost sold half of the team to Pedro Diniz, bought Ferrari engines (Acer brand), and is trying hard to score on a very competitive championship.
Now Prost scored 6th place on Monaco 2001! GREAT! Congratulations to Alain Prost and Jean Alesi! Keep it going! You may start slow, but you'll always end up winning.
Notice that Jean Alesi finished every single race, this championship!
The AP04 @ Estoril / Portugal - While Estoril is still out of the official F1 calendar, the track remains a favorite for pre-season testing.
Jean Alesi - the driver who scored second place (behind Senna), on a Tyrrel, on his FIRST EVER F1 race (Phoenix, USA), is trying to bring the Prost name to where it belongs - to the wins!