Alain Prost

ALAIN PROST. French Formula 1 Grand Prix driver nicknamed The Professor and four times world champion in 1985 / 1986 / 1989 / 1993. Career record ; 202 races / 51 wins / 106 podiums and 33 pole-positions with McLaren / Renault / Ferrari and Williams. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he formed a fierce rivalry mainly with Ayrton Senna along with Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. In 1986, at the last race of the reason, he managed to pip Mansell and Piquet of Williams to the title after Mansell retired late on in the race and Piquet was pulled in for a late precautionary pit stop. Senna joined Prost at McLaren in 1988 and the two had a series of controversial clashes, including a collision at the 1989 Japanese GP  that gave Prost his third Drivers' Championship. A year later at the same venue they collided again, but this time Prost, driving for Ferrari lost out. Before the end of a win-less 1991 season, he was fired by Ferrari for his public criticism of the team. After a sabbatical in 1992, he joined the Williams team, prompting reigning drivers' champion Mansell to leave for CART. With a competitive car, Prost won the 1993 championship and following this retired from Formula One driving at the end of the year. In 1997, he took over the French Ligier team, running it as Prost Grand Prix until it went bankrupt in 2002.