Interview: Sport Auto spoke to world champion Alain Prost
"I know my own mind these days"
EXPERTS SAY: WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING THE BEST PROST EVER. WHAT DO YOU SAY?
This may be true. I think I'm better than ever before, because I can work at Ferrari with no pressure, just as I want it. The people there have confidence in me.
THIS WASN´T THE CASE AT MCLAREN?
The last two years were difficult. I could not establish my way of working, because there was constant pressure from the ridiculous battle with Senna and because of communication problems with Honda. You carry these problems about with yourself. You do not feel good, and you go automatically worse. Just one example: During testing, it happened more and more frequently that they've taken me out of the car and put Ayrton in the car, although my work was still not finished. At Ferrari there is nothing like that.
YOU´RE PLANNING YOUR RACES WITH THE TACTICAL FINESSE OF A CHESS PLAYER. IS THAT BECAUSE OF EXPERIENCE OR SIMPLY SELF DISCIPLINE?
A bit of everything, I would say. The most important thing during a Grand Prix weekend is to find the ideal setup for the race and to understand it. Practice is only secondary. You have to precisely analyze your race in advance. In Mexico, for example, when I was only 13th in practice, I told the team: Don´t think about it, I can still win today. They did not believe me, but I had made my plan for the race already. I knew that the Grand Prix would be decided in the second half. So I had to have the fastest car in the field at that time. I focused on that. The fact that I was only 8th in the warm up on full tanks didn´t disturb me. I knew that I could write off the first few laps in traffic. Silverstone was a similar case. There, you have to drive slowly for the first ten laps and keep an eye on your tires. So why should I set the car up perfectly on full tanks, if I have to go slow anyway? It was predictable that the crucial stage of the race would be at halftime. At that time I had to catch up on Nigel and that´s what I set my car up perfectly for.
LAST YEAR YOU OFTEN COMPLAINED ABOUT THE BAD ATMOSPHERE IN FORMULA ONE. IS IT STILL THAT BAD?
It gets worse from year to year. The only thing I still enjoy in Formula One is my job at Ferrari, to see how we are making progress. Luckily, I'm involved there in a way which doesn´t let me experience a lot of those unpleasent things from the outside. I drive, work, go to the hotel.
WHAT´S SO NEGATIVE ABOUT FORMULA ONE AMBIANCE?
It's cold, dishonest, full of controversy and stories that are just launched to foment trouble.
HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR DRIVER COLLEAGUES?
I get along well with a few, not as well with others and I don´t get along at all with some. But what bothers me the most is the driver´s attitude in general. Do you think it´s possible to balance everyone regarding safety issues? No chance!
MCLAREN BOSS RON DENNIS STILL CLAIMS THAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR YOU TO TAKE A SABBATICAL.
(Laughs) - It might have been better for him, because he would have had a walk-over then.
DID FERRARI ALREADY SURPASS MCLAREN - HONDA?
Not quite yet, but we have them in sight. On the engine side, they are superior to us in acceleration and reliability.
GERHARD BERGER CLAIMS THAT HE COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN FERRARI ANY FURTHER AND THE IMPROVEMENT IS A MERIT OF YOUR EXPERIENCE.
That's very kind of him. My experience of ten years in Formula 1 has not even helped me that much. It´s much more important that I was a world champion three times, won many races and have nothing to prove anymore. The Ferrari people rely on what I say and do. The best example is again Mexico. When I tralized that I could not make the front row, I wrote off practice and focused only on the race. The team accepted that. A younger driver such as Gerhard can not afford such a thing, because he feels the pressure much more inside the team. Today, I do whatever I like to do and make sure that nobody else get´s involved in my decisions. If I'm wrong, I take full responsibility. Then there is another problem: Gerhard spent three years at Ferrari. After such a long time in the team nobody listens to you anymore. I had the same problem at McLaren. Everything frays and over the years people think: Let him talk.
TODAY, FERARRI APPEARS TO BE MUCH BETTER ORGANIZED. HOW BIG IS YOUR PART ON THAT?
From the very beginning, I represented my ideas of an efficient functioning. Even in the FIAT executive suite towards Cesare Romiti and Gianni Agnelli. But that alone isn´t enough. When you´re talking the talk, you have to deliver.What it means for me is that I have to stay till eight in the evening at every test and practice session, to talk to the engineers. If you are leaving at three in the afternoon to play golf, you lose your credibility very fast.
HOW MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT THE HONDA ENGINE COULD YOU GIVE TO FERRARI?
I know a lot about the Honda engine, including some data. But I have never seen it open. Nobody at McLaren was allowed to look into the engine. There are so many things that we do not know. But my feeling tells me that the new development engine by Ferrari is very close to the Honda engine.
EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE FACT THAT FERRARI MIGHT BE FLIRTING WITH SENNA. DO YOU FEEL ANNOYED BECAUSE OF THAT?
Not at all. Ferrari does not belong to me. If Ferrari and the Fiat group think Senna would be better for them, I´m not even angry. If it should come that way, the only thing I really want to know is the reason why they prefer Senna over me. I could actually understand it, if they were going to say: Senna is younger than you, he will be in Formula One for longer and is therefore better suited to our long-term approach. But I want to know about this decision as soon as possible.
DOES SENNA HAVE A CHANCE AT FERRARI?
I don´t think so. His mentality doesn´t suit the team.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
At Ferrari, the first thing you have to think about is the team, then yourself. With Senna, the opposite is the case.
Allegedly Ayrton Senna asked for a salary of 15 million dollars per year.McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Ferrari team principal Cesare Fiorio for once share the same oppinion, that such a sum could be a danger for Formula One.
Absolutely true. Let´s say a good team operates with a budget of 50 million dollars per year. 15 million equal 30 percent of that. No driver in the world is worth that much, because it would mean that he is doing 30 percent of the team´s work, which is not the case. Of course, as a driver I want to earn as much money as possible, but I would never venture to ask for such a sum.
Nigel Mansell complained about you, hiding information from him. That you only line your own pockets. What´s up with that?
We have a completely different way of doing things and because of that it is difficult to work with Nigel. I would say that he relys more on his instinct. Sometimes he changes everything on the car at the same time: wings, springs, dampers, anti-roll bars. I work systemathically, step by step. Nigel does often drive with the same setup from friday till sunday, if he liked it straight away. I always alter the car completely. It can happen that I let the car get changed on the starting grid. That I´m hiding information from NIgel is nonsense. If he does ask me, he´ll receive an answer. But we don´t talk to each other that often, because I can´t benefit from his information. His driving experience is completely different than mine.
What´s your oppinion on his retirement?
I was only half as surprised as others. To be honest: I can understand him. At this age we are in, you don´t have any long time plans in F1 anymore. I think Nigel wanted to stay one more year. Williams had only given him the number one status he always wanted, if he would have signed a longer contract. At Ferrari he maybe didn´t feel that comfortable anymore. Maybe because of me, I don´t know.
When are you going to retire?
It is quite possible that I'll put an end in late 1991.
Are the 50 Grand Prix victories the borderline to retirement?
No, definitely not. The threshold is the point at which I don´t enjoy it anymore.. I believe that after Ferrari there are no more challenges for me.
Not even an offer from Mercedes?
I have the feeling that my next job will take place outside of a race car.
You´re referring to your own team. How far away from that had you been last year?
The only thing missing was the signature under the project. I had an engineer, an engine - from Renault and the money could have also been organized. I could have received the money for one season immediately. But I wanted a budget for 5 years. That´s the point where it got complicated. You have to convince people to invest into something they can´t estimate. I don´t regret this development, how this has happened. After all, I wanted to drive myself for 2 more years. And I didn´t want to leave after such frustrating years, like the last two had been at McLaren.
You´re on top in almost every statistic, except pole positions. What´s the reason for that?
I had never been a specialist in that competition, where the only thing that matters is to be fast on a single lap. Maybe I´m really slower than Senna or Mansell in this category. I always had problems to use the qualifying tires in the best way. In qualifying you need a big heart and take risks, which I´m not ready to accept anymore these days. Last year, Ayrton Senna spun in Stowe corner in Silverstone at 240 kilometres per hour, only because he wanted to beat my time. You can kill yourself by doing such things. For what? Only to get pole position, that´s ridiculous. The most important part of our job is still the race, and that´s what I´m concentrating on.
I found this interview in the basement in a old magazine.
I ound it rather interesting, so I gave my best and translated everything from german into english.
I hope it´s not too bad (the translation). Enjoy
