Alain Prost Ligier-Renault JS37 F1 

3:45~　He seems to try to cool himself down.

His brain was fastest than his feet for sure…with mr ballestre

@@SuperDavidGnomo Don't forget Senna deserved being severely sanctioned when he got his revenge..... I'd say that when it comes to FIA benevolence they tied :)

@@SuperDavidGnomo The disqualification in 89 was John Cornsmit decision not Ballestre :)

Lol

All in all I agree with your comment,just let me remark two weak points of the frenchman : neither he was a great overtaker nor he felt comfortable on the wet.I know his philosophy was max result at lesser risk yet his behavior was at times disappointing on such occasions. This said I highly esteem him and his exquisite unparalleled driving style.

One thing to remember about qualifying is that Prost was 5 years older than Senna, and it seems that age has a significant effect on ultimate short term speed, such as qualifying. That is not to diminish Senna's qualifying performances, just that if Prost were the same age as Senna, it is likely that the differences between them would have been smaller. Also, Prost put a high priority on the race setup, perhaps a higher priority than other drivers.

@@INDIGOBLUE555 I would not argue your point about Prost not feeling comfortable in the wet, but in his own words he said he like driving in the wet with less traction, but he hated the loss of visibility from the spray. A strong reason for this was when Pironi ran into the back of Prost at Hockenheim because Prost was hidden in the spray. Pironi was launched over the top of Prost and suffered terrible injuries to his legs, which Prost saw first hand.

@@PMcKay00 Yes admittedly Prost got pretty much upset as a consequence of Pironi accident.Hence he hated pushing or taking great risks in low or even no visibility conditions and we know that's quite a standard situation on the wet. I may be a tad overcritical but on the wet he never seemed feeling comfortable to me. Could age difference be playing a role ? I feel pretty sure it did play a role.Senna was an uprising star always willing to go at it on the track whatsoever while Prost already was a first class star.I guess that they had a different approach to car racing besides having different existential standards eventhough the frenchman was more daring in his prime.Conversely I would say that Senna basically kept the same attitude since his earliest days in F1. Just my two cents :)

Le plus grand , je viens enfin de me faire signer mon livre de 88 metre de mon destin, aux Paul Ricard 2024 pour la journée f1 historique, je suis heureux Patrick de Marseille souvenir gravé pour toujours merci alain...

Indeed, it is literally like being a fly on the wall with no interfering voice-over commentators !

My guess is he basically wasn't actually willing to join a 100% french team....Politics teaming up with car racing doesn't usually allow reaching good results,notwithstanding tons of money being invested in the deal.

@@INDIGOBLUE555 yet just 5 years later he was willing to buy them and all the french politics/connections/sponsors?

@@1greenMitsi Elaborare please....

@@INDIGOBLUE555 alain bought bought ligier and renamed it prost, quickly turned into a French political dumpster fire and folded 5 years later

@@1greenMitsi Yes, now you tell me I recall.... that was a blunder Indeed.Possibly he got a huge budget though, I don't think he lost his own money :)

Si ! Para mí también

I Completely agree 👍

He's fast. But, he's one of those drivers (like Vettel) where he can only drive at his best when the car is built specifically to his style. Senna, Alonso and Hamilton can drive pretty much any crap and yet, make it go beyond it's normal limits.

@@hbarcellos76 Wrong, Prost beat all his teammates and is much stronger than Alonso. Prost was meticulous and process-oriented while being calm enough to beat all his teammates. Trulli outqualified and beat Alonso in 2004. Alonso isn't even as fast as prime Kimi.

@@hbarcellos76 Hamilton??? ah ah

That is because he was directly shifting from 5th to 2nd gear (as you can see it at Zandvoort before Tarzan curve) with a very long and high rev heel-toe instead of downshifting one gear at a time like all other drivers.

Ifs and buts ...However I agree,he would deserve even more than what he got.His driving style and his capability to set up the car are still unrivalled.

9

Maybe 1982 but everyone had a chance to win that title, but he could've won 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993.

What was interesting is that Senna atitude towards Prost and Safety radically changed once Prost retired. They suddently became best Friends and frequently talked about safety improvements.

Agree with you and not Frank Dernie on that one. Prost was/is a very pragmatic guy and only wanted to check the full potential of this Ligier car in both qual and racing setups to see if that could enable him to be world champion again and so couldn't care less about Boutsen. As for the Comas' helmet, not 100% sure, but Prost was probably still under contract with Ferrari at that time so was probably not allowed to drive another car since they fired him while still paying him as i recall.

@@pierreptg I think he's lawyers reached and agreement with Maranello to keep him one year out while receiving is honoraries anyway. Anyhow the man gave a show no doubt and Guy was naive thinking that he could put the little French behind that wheel... Prost would never play Laffite s role.

nonsense, joining Ligier for 92 wouldnt have changed a thing, Alain would have only joined on a 1 year contract max and Ligier would have snapped him up no questions asked. If he had signed he wouldve kept the door open for a front running drive in 93, he knew his worth

Yep and if they stuck with Ford in '95 they would never have won the title as the V8 suffered much more than the V10 going from 3.5 to 3 litres. I think the V8 that Sauber got was nearly 100BHP down on the 3 litre Renault.

@@alistair-01 They might've gone with the Mugen Honda V10s that Ligier ended up with as a replacement. Their reliability record wasn't good for then though I don't think

That was a good engine just a bit heavy 🪨

Great summary. He would also have won the 1982 the F1 championchip had he benefited from the same Team support back then than Schumacher later had at Ferrari... (refer to the infamous French Grand Prix 1982 story with Arnoux). Michael Schumacher like Lewis Hamilton nowadays are so overrated and do not deserve any of their championchip titles. As the old saying goes "To conquer without peril/adversaries, one triumphs without glory"

Yes you are correct possibly the 1982 championship as well although I think had Gilles lived he would have won it that year. The Ferrari finally had the reliablity to compliment his immense talent but fate it wasn't to be. Of course it's all if's but's and maybe's but for me Alain was always the driver to beat over a whole season especially from 1983 onwards

I totally agree with what you wrote gre812u! These are just true facts.

Without doubt one of the very best. As good out of the car as he was in it. Difficult to say who was the goat as different eras, different cars, etc, a lot to choose from.

Nope. Sena and villeneuve. Giles

The greatest Senna's rival was Terry Fullerton; according to Senna himself!!!

@@adrianocalicz6178 I never heard that, I don't remember Terry Fullerton

@@lewispaine4589 a karting driver.

They would have if Panis didn't crash in Canada.

win a race lol they didnt even come close

You were not the only one that wanted to know :-) and he exlains it here in more details ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mhJbnx660OI.html

Thierry Boutsen

Guy Ligier, the owner of the team

There is anothet story with testing Ligier, this time with Schumi. After the end of 94 season , he went to Estoril to test a 94 spec ligier renailt to have an idea of the Renault engine as benetton was switching from ford to renault for 1995. He apprently did a lap time that was 2 sec faster than any ligier reneault did at estoril up to that point.

@@ssssssss6889 Frank Dernie also compares his experience with Prost and Schumacher testing at Ligier at the following link/time but more in terms of car feedback ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mhJbnx660OI.html

Having the time sheets labelled with the 2/1.6 sec adv. of Prost would act as a primer for the drivers. Useful? Depends upon the mindset of the individual. Whether one driver was equal to the other in various cars over various seasons is viable only to the point that they were just that, time-wise. What is of the utmost importance is that Prost outscored every team-mate he raced against, with the exception of Watson in '80 and Lauda in '84. My point is only made because your statement, although well put, still seems to fall into the old "let's not give Prost his proper due" adage. If intent is misinterpreted, I'm more than happy to acquiesce.

@@ssssssss6889 No, he was 8 tenths faster than lap time of Olivier Panis from the previous GP. Olivier Panis who was watching in the pits, studied then the set-up and admitted he learned a lot, especially regarding the gearbox and how it work with the engine. Schumacher was sensible to 500 rpm, Senna for instance was sensible to less than 200 RPM . Means for 200 RPM missing, he could change the whole gearbox set-up , that had to be dismantled partially. So the next day, Panis applied what he learned, optimised the gearing set-up to have optimum rpm in different places of the track and beat that reference lap of more than 1 second, so 2 tenths faster than Schumacher. The story taught by Panis is very interesting and full of humility.

Nonsense. Prost was superfast. Boutsen was a mediocre driver just like Berger. You can't tell me you know more about racing than this racing engineer? Give your head a shake

You clearly didn't watch/listen to the video. Frank Dernie says that, according to their own data, Prost in a Ligier would have been a problem for Benetton, McLaren, and Ferrari in 1992.

@@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044 I clearly did watch the video and reiterate that speculation from Mr. Dernie is just that - speculation. The Ligier was a mid-pack car, even with Prost driving.

@@ElectoneGuy Yeah. You know better than an F1 engineer who worked in the team. Laughable. (This must be Thierry Boutsen's burner account.)

@@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044 I love your name !

In essence I agree with your point. That's likely what actually was going to happen in the following F1 season.Not only Alain was hell fast on the track,he was a clever and experienced professional : possibly he actually wasn't so happy to join a 100% french team.A prominent public company as Renault in addition to public money sponsorship would easily imply politics mixing up with mere racing management not to mention that Guy Ligier himself was infamously known as a hard guy to deal with at times.On top of this,struggling amongst midfield drivers was no more his cup ( Alain's :) He got an unequalled brain amongst F1 top drivers.

Italian paparazzi I guess !!

Obrigado a eles e amizades

With Guy Ligier @ 3:48 ?

@@rascassette Precisely.

No, you can see Prost putting Erik Comas' helmet @ 1:41

Good catch as I had not seen that.

I recal him saying the Renault engine was pushing hard and why he preferred joining Williams the year after + According to what Frank Dernie is saying at the end of the interview, he also wanted to own the Ligier team and not just driving ("doing the cuckoo's job" dixit Frank Dernie) which only happened years after.

Obviously not quite enough to drive for them the following year. Shame.

Very interesting point. Anyway there's no doubt Prost drove superbly he went there that day to show something. Thierry was astonished i remember reading about this quite well!

@Trophy Robot I am saying he is exaggerating and goes caricature. In the same interview, if you watched the whole version, he is saying that Alain Prost asked him why is aerodynamics more important than mechanical grip, even at Loews in 1st gear. I have read enough from Prost to know that he would never ask the second part of the question. And then a bit later, Dernie says he is exaggerating. In 1st gear in Loews, most important is the mechanical grip, not the aerodynamic grip.

@Trophy Robot You are avoiding the discussion and taking the excuse of the status. Do you really believe that Prost is 2 seconds intrasincally faster than Boutsen ? Do you really believe that Prost went into in private testing session rhythm with the mind of blowing Boutsen because he was the friend of Senna ? Do you really believe at the hairping of the Loews at Monaco that the aerodynamic grip is more important than the mechanical grip ? If you reject the ability to think by yourself then what to say ..... Doctors, Engineers, Politics, Generals do mistake or do say shit. If you reject thinking by yourself just because someone has a title, then you are good for the Milgram experiment . 1- Regarding the gap between these two pilots it cannot be. Triangulation is not a perfect science but asserting than Prost would be instrasincally 2 seconds faster at Paul-Ricard would mean a lot . Take for instance Damon Hill gap vs Prost and imagine then where Hill would be if Prost was basically 2 seconds faster than Boutsen. Who was almost same pace as Patrese who was on a non-active suspension roughly same pace ( even faster first half 1991) than Mansell. 2- Prost always said that private testing should be done at fast speed but not fully, because if you are not very fast, then the car does not work as it is supposed to be . The difference is some margin of safety because the same risk should not be taken in private testing as a racing . 3- All drivers who comment a lap of Monaco or the characteristics of Monaco, even today while the circuit has been transformed in a much faster and less selective parking, say the same thing : Monaco , aerodynamic is very simple : full on flaps. Most important is mechanical grip and good balance. The argument of title is always used by people who do not want to discuss in details of the matter . Question : when Senna was 2 seconds behind Nelson Piquet lap times at Paul Ricard in November 1983, do you really think that Piquet was intrasincally faster than Senna of 2 seconds ? Also another thing. it is said that Boutsen knew the car and Prost just came in. Prost tested the 18th january 1992 I doubt that the JS-37 was released much earlier. And I wonder if even he was not the first one to test. if not, then, Boutsen and Comas would not have much lap time more than Prost when he tested in 18th January . Also, at that stage, there was most probably only 1 chassis available. An engine is done for 400kms maximum ( 300 kms for the race plus the warm-up ) In private testing, changing an engine takes much more than during an official session cause you don't want to rush. And even so, this is in hours. When is the fast series and when is the race simulation happening for both ? If you really knew Formula 1, you would ask yourself these kind of questions. Not having necessary the answers, but you would ask yourself and think : wait, we do not have the details and this is much more complex than a guy who wanted to bit the friend of his enemy and went 2 seconds faster. And if someone raises his hand and say it is more complicated, then I would opposed him the title argument.

@Trophy Robot People can read what I said. Your first argument is the argument of the title, instead of discussing the corps of the discussion your second argument is that I have claimed that I know more than Bernie as per your say. I think no need to discuss anymore with you. Thank God, anyone can read and decide what are the arguments used.

I've read and I can say that GTAGIS knows far more about racing than Trophy Robot (BTW at least you've choosen the right nickname, as a robot you'll be the perfect test subject for the Milgram experience that GTAGIS reffers to. Just obey to those who knows more than you). Frank Dernie is saying many things that are hard to believe. If you had a minimal technical motorsport culture, you'd be very surprised and shocked about his claims. And if you were used to this kind of accounts from motorsports personnalities about past events, you'd not be that surprised about how past events could be caricatured or slightly distorded in theire mouths just to entertaine the public. Seriously, 2 seconds... even on different cars, considering Prost had always faster cars than Boutsen, the differnce were most of the time less than that. About Loews, maybe Prost was referring to some kind of indirect influence of aero, especially on those special active suspension cars... Anyway, someone who doesn't ask question when facing illogical facts or testimonies will never learn anything.

That is what Frank Dernie explains at the end of the video. Prost wanted not only to drive but also own the Ligier team but Guy Ligier was not yet willing to sell his team to Prost back then (only happened years later).

@@rascassette Understood, yes and I would ve wanted the same ( even) but my question was why he did not take a seat at any other Team on 1992

@@Lucky.Man.Altimori Well, he could not go back to neither Ferrari nor McLaren. So was left with Williams Renault as top team and so had to wait one year for Mansell contract not to be renewed.

false

@@1greenMitsi Absolutely correct indeed

:-) True..... フェラーリの赤いカミオンの後

@@pierreptg 後のプロストGPですねｗ

tell me how much you liked the Senna film again

@@enriqueengelbracht6320 I did not like the senna film..it’s a tragedy.. It’s not just that senna had to compete with other drivers,and teams..he had to fight his own team mate, and the french governing body of formula 1.. and he still remained polite and civil... I watched this drama unfolding in real time, live. I have every Formula One race 1986-until they neutered the cars recorded.. the v12s, v10s, the ford v8s unmuffeled...nelson. piquet, Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen,, The glory days of Honda when they were spending $50 million a year just on turbo development for their two Formula One cars. There were no limits on how many engines a team could use. Peugeot leased customer engines out, and you had to take at least 10 engines,At $500,000 per engine. ..earsplitting 20,000 RPM engines, the introduction of pneumatic valves, 1200 hp..use whichever tires you want,exotic fuels that increased HP by as much as 60hp and cost $700 a gallon..Some mechanics had it in their contract -they did not even have to be in the garage when the car was being fueled with these fuels.. You missed it ... Today, Mercedes happens to have the best of the cookie cutter cars.. Mercedes has no competition. It’s not Hamilton, it’s Mercedes... Formula one today is Comparatively boring...Some of the Petty rules they have today puts you at the rear for the start or in pit lane.. for something as simple as changing a transmission that failed.... Just imagine Hamilton being pushed off the track in a race he must finish to win the world championship by a driver who is also in position to win the world championship if Hamilton does not win that race...Imagine Hamilton racing back onto the track after driving through the grass, and re-entering the race with a broken front spoiler, racing to the pits getting a new front spoiler , Losing many positions, and much time, but,going out and barely winning the race, and presumably the world championship. Then after a pause, the Formula One governing body Comes out and makes an announcement that Hamilton did not re-enter the track at the point where he left the track, And consequently not only losing that race, but the world championship. That is exactly just one of the things F1 did to senna...which gave prost the championship that year... Senna was loved around the world.. The last time I cried was the day I saw Senna die live on TV.. Brazil had a three day mourning shut down.. After he was buried, a Japanese businessman offered $5 million for Senna’s headstone, no questions asked.. When Prost expires, do you think France will go into three days of shut down mourning

@@enriqueengelbracht6320 FIA was under French control and especially under Ballestre control. FIA-FOM war, was a kind of French (supported by Ferrari ) Brit war. Ballestre said one day that what is minister or deputy next to him ? That guy was megalomaniac. With time, the French power decrease. But on the 80's , it was still very strong. This is not a question of being French ( One of my citizenship is French and most of my behaviour is French ) , this is a question of being fair. And we know that F1 sometime got manipulated in one way or another. Ballestre pushed for Prost. Ecclestone had to replace Japan economically with Germany and then FIA had to build up an artificial champion, this need was aggregated with the one of having Ferrari back to the top. Back to Ballestre : Monaco 1984 has been interrupted at a time where the rain has decreased. the worst time was 10 -15 laps before. It has been interrupted by Belgian Jacky Ickx ( French sphere) when Senna overtakes Prost . Also the phenomenon of having a new guy dsrupting the established order , especially at Monaco, might have played a role. But the idea of having the race stopped because it was raining, not to me. People should watch the race and appreciate how much rain there was at different moments. Regarding Suzuka 1989 : it was obvious that Prost was creating the collision . If Senna was not there and if we draw a virtual trajectory, the outside wheels of Prost McLaren would have cut the chicane herbs well inside the limits ! Regarding Suzuka 1990: before signing pole-position, Steward agreed that pole will be on the left . By the way, Senna having signed many pole position, how many start and even race he lost because it was not systematically put into the best line ? That era 1990-1991 was the time where it is being corrected slowly. But with Ballestre being everywhere and micro-managing ..... Anyway, it was agreed, pole on left. Senna signed best time on Friday and on Saturday. Pole for Senna. What Ballestre did ? He overturned this decision in the night of Saturday to Sunday. He wait for to know who did the pole to change things !!! This is worst that Ecclestone asking Tag-Heuer to show 3 same lap times to Jerez 1997 because at least, that bullshit from Ecclestone ( Williams has measured with the position of wheels and confirm the grid and lap times being different : Villeneuve faster than Schumacher faster than Frentzen) did not changed the grid compared to real time ( as he was giving same time in order, the first one goes first as per motoracing rules because it is considered to be harder to do a time on a green track ) , Ballestre has created the condition for the crash as Senna who is not doing things in a hidden fashion ( see Estoril 1988 first lap is a response to Prost pushing discretely but surely Senna in the side ) could not take the injustice which piled up with 1989.

Points system ??? are you kidding ?? In 1988 Prost had more points than Senna and lost the championship because they had to deduct points. This rule was so stupid that they stopped it the year after and then Prost Became champion under the still current rule where all points count. And Senna crashed into Prost. Also in 1983, Brabham used illegal gas to win the championship but Renault never claimed because they did not want to win following a cancelled result from Piquet. Prost should have been 6 times world champion.

haha. Please kid, don't speak if you don't know what you're talking about.

@@Stug9680 Check the interview.

Check again who scored more points and more fastest laps across the two seasons they were at Mclaren 😉

@@srxt6758 Prost was 2 times world champion, a "better" driver and won the 89 champion with Balestres helping hand 😂 or in his own words: "I surely gave a little help to Prost to win the championship... but Senna also did a fault that day". But I notice you didn't joy much interviews right? 😭

@@heberthybr senna had an upgraded engine specifically for him from honda. he’s a cheat