Button and Prost, Crossed Perspectives on a Legacy

If direct lineage exists in Formula 1, as the families Rosberg, Piquet, and Senna can attest, indirect lineage is also significant, and many drivers at least claim some sort of heritage. However, few claim the heritage of Alain Prost, whose duel with Ayrton Senna in the 1980s and 1990s, along with its media coverage, often highlighted the Brazilian’s attacking qualities, leaving Prost with what some, like Nelson Piquet, called trickery or, less pejoratively, the science of racing.

Jenson Button is among these drivers: I preferred Alain’s style. When I started karting in 1988, I was already inspired by his driving technique, all in smoothness. Recent winner of the Australian Grand Prix, the Brit explains in more detail: At the wheel, I try to be smooth. When you are, you can manage and control everything. Smoothness and precision are important for achieving performance. Maybe from their TV screens, people sometimes find my driving technique not very exciting. Too bad. I want to impress them with my lap times! Impressing is certainly what Jenson Button has been doing since he joined the McLaren team, where he was expected to be inevitably overshadowed by his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Two seasons and a Grand Prix later, few are as confident in that assertion.

Alain Prost, who was rightly considered throughout his career as a driver gentle with his mechanics, added: « Driving is a matter of philosophy. In an F1 cockpit, you can’t force your nature: you drive as you are. When I was a kid, in karting, I took care of everything: the engine preparation, the chassis… Later, I kept that mindset. I didn’t like to break things. I always wanted to score as many points as possible without ever mistreating the car. There is no secret, you are behind the wheel as you are in life. »

When asked whether they would have liked to race against each other, the discussion quickly shifts to the difference between current F1 cars and those of the 1980s: « If I had to fit into the same single-seater you used, Alain, I would have no chance. I’m too tall! A few years ago, at the Goodwood Festival, I had the chance to try Alain’s 1986 F1, and I really struggled to get into it. Today, we are almost reclined in the single-seaters. That wasn’t the case back then. » Remarks to which ‘The Professor’ can only agree: « In my day, the word ergonomics didn’t exist. The engineers who designed F1 cars had only one obsession: the car’s efficiency, its aerodynamics, its power, not the driver’s well-being. I’m not tall, but I had absolutely no room to move my feet. It was a real hell. We had three pedals and a gear stick, I had to cut the ends off my shoes to avoid friction! ».

When the question of fair play arises, the McLaren driver, always considered a “gentleman driver” in the established expression, is clear: « It is both a value and a philosophy of life. A value intrinsic to sport. » While Alain Prost recognizes himself in this response, he nevertheless laments the image he carried throughout his career: « I suffered from not being considered such, especially during my rivalry with Ayrton Senna. » A reputation that the release of the documentary film “Senna,” a true global success and multi-awarded, did not really help to restore, as the film romanticizes the opposition between Ayrton Senna, misunderstood driver, and Alain Prost, the cunning politician.

Finally, even if they never crossed paths on the track, they had the opportunity to meet in the paddocks and could even have cohabited within the Prost Grand Prix team in an employee/employer relationship: « [In 1999] I received a call from my manager explaining that I had to go to Barcelona for a test run in a Prost Grand Prix. At first, I thought it was a joke. But no, it was true. Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld were also there. It was one of the craziest experiences of my career. I was barely 18, and back then, before it was transformed, the Barcelona circuit was incredibly fast. I wanted to impress Alain, but I also didn’t want to crash… » recalls the 2009 World Champion. Then founder and boss of the French team, Alain Prost did not invite him by chance: « What Jenson probably doesn’t know is that long before I started my team in 1997, I already had a good relationship with Serge Saulnier (founder of Promatecme, Jenson Button’s team in the lower categories, ed.) […] Jenson Button’s name was always at the center of our discussions. I had been following his career for a long time. I would have really liked to hire him, but we had already signed Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld. »