page_title: Alain Prost
section_title: 1990–1991: Ferrari
hierarchical_section_title: Alain Prost / Driving career / Formula One / 1990–1991: Ferrari
caption_attribution_description: Alain Prost (Scuderia Ferrari) at the United States Grand Prix in 1991.
context_page_description: Alain Marie Pascal Prost OBE is a retired French racing driver and a four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion. From 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories, and is considered as one of the greatest F1 drivers ever. Michael Schumacher surpassed Prost's total of 51 victories at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix. In 1999, Prost received the World Sports Award of the Century in the motor sport category.
  Prost discovered karting at the age of 14 during a family holiday. He progressed through motor sport's junior ranks, winning the French and European Formula Three championships, before joining the McLaren Formula One team in 1980 at the age of 24. He finished in the points on his Formula One début – at the San Martin Autodrome in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he took his first podium a year later – and took his first race victory a year later at his home Grand Prix in France, driving for the factory Renault team.
  During the 1980s and early 1990s Prost formed a fierce sporting rivalry, mainly with Ayrton Senna but also Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell.
context_section_description: 1990
  Prost signed to join Ferrari in 1990 becoming the first driver signed to the team after the death of team founder Enzo Ferrari in 1988. The Frenchman replaced Gerhard Berger at Ferrari and was partnered with Britain's Nigel Mansell for 1990 (Berger took Prost's seat at McLaren). As reigning world champion, Prost took over as the team's lead driver and was said to have played on this status. Mansell recalls one incident where at the 1990 British Grand Prix, the car he drove didn't handle the same as in the previous race where he had taken pole position, and later found out from team mechanics that Prost saw Mansell as having a superior car and had them swapped without Mansell knowing. Prost won five races for Ferrari that year, in Brazil, Mexico, France, Britain and Spain. Notable among these was the Mexican Grand Prix, where he won after starting in 13th position. In both the Mexican and Spanish races, he led Mansell to Ferrari 1–2 finishes. The championship once again came to the penultimate round of the season in Japan with Prost trailing his McLaren adversary, Ayrton Senna, by nine points. As in 1989, a controversial collision between the two settled the race. At the first corner Senna, as admitted a year later, intentionally drove his race car into Prost's, taking them both out of the race and sealing the title in his favour. "What he did was disgusting," Prost said. "He is a man without value." Prost finished the season seven points behind Senna, and his Ferrari team were runners-up to McLaren.
  1991
  Mansell left the Scuderia due to his unstable relationship with Prost, to rejoin Williams for the 1991 Formula One season. Mansell's replacement was Frenchman Jean Alesi, who had been impressive during the previous two years at Tyrrell. Ferrari had entered a downturn, partially as their famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors. The Ferrari chassis, despite a major revision by the French Grand Prix (F-643) was also not up to the level of the McLaren and the Williams models. Prost won no races, only getting onto the podium five times. He took this out on the team, publicly criticising the team and the Ferrari 643, and subsequently had his contract terminated before the end of the season, immediately prior to the Australian Grand Prix. He was replaced by Italian driver Gianni Morbidelli for the final race of the 1991 season and by another Italian, Ivan Capelli, for the following season. Despite being sacked, Prost received a significant payment from Ferrari to not drive for any other team.
caption: Prost at the 1991 United States Grand Prix
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