Stefan Johansson on Alain Prost (former McLaren F1 teammate)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- Interview with Mr. Stefan Johansson, Racing driver, manager, painting artist and watchmaker.
Stefan "Lill-Lövis" Johansson is a Swedish racing driver who spent 10 year in Formula 1, driving for teams such as Ferrari and McLaren. Since then he has won the prestigious Le Mans 24 hour race for Porsche in 1997 (and 3rd in 2003).
Track record in F1 : 101 Race Entries - 79 Race Starts - 0 Wins - 12 Podiums - 88 Points
Formula One career : Spirit (1983) - Toleman (1984) -
Tyrrell (1984-1985) - Ferrari (1985-1986) - McLaren (1987) - Ligier (1988) - Onyx (1989-1990) - AGS (1991) - Footwork (1991)
Notable teammates : Martin Brundle, Alain Prost, Bertrand Gachot & Ayrton Senna
Racing career summary : 435 Races entered - 22 Wins - 93 Podiums - 24 Pole positions - 13 Fastest laps
The V Union is a student association that tries to offer the academic community of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) a chance to exchange and share knowledge and perspectives with professionals and personalities. The project does not tend to target a particular theme but to explore as much as possible through meetings and partnerships with diverse and varied horizons.
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Prost, as a racing driver, was a true genius. An absolute craftsman of getting a car to the best possible result. For just a handful of points more he would have been a 7 time world champion.
I once had the opportunity to talk with him for 20 minutes or so. He was also a very decent human being. An all time great of motor sport.
I met him too…..such a gentleman
Did Prost put a struggling car on pole?
@@lgic1 Sunday is race day.
@@lgic1 No, because he was smart enough to know that was a wasted effort. Setting the car up for race day was the most important thing in his era.
Exactly, a true top and complete smart driver.
That’s why he is…alive!
Bernie Ecclestone himself - and he knows a thing or two about formula 1 - said repeatedly that Prost was probably the best driver of his era since he competed with tough team mates throughout his career. And he was successful.
I’ve talked to Stefan a few times. He is a businessman well-respected in the industry due to his diplomatic nature and ability to work with people. I agree with him on his Prost assessment. Prost knew the business better than Ayrton and was not as emotional. He also did not have religion to give him a sense of entitlement. As a young man, I enjoyed Senna’s bravado and outright speed, but as an old man today, I have more respect for Prost and his strategic nature.
As far as I am aware Prost was a catholic like Senna but whereas Senna wanted the glory, Prost was prepared to accept the crosses of F1.
The religion part was taken out of context. Senna was as scared as anyone else. He said that in an interview
Alain Prost wasn't underrated at all, the only difference with Prost is that he's still alive, the drama seeking fans love it when a driver has died, like as if they're more brave and enigmatic if they're dead. Prost was fantastic, he is probably the best ever considering the era he was in.
100%. Senna was great, but drivers tend to get "over-lionized" in death. These myths that have sprung up about Gilles Villeneuve, for instance, over only a handful of spectacular video clips. Dude got destroyed by teammates Carlos Reutemann and Jody Scheckter--and Didier Pironi was giving him fits. I don't hear those guys listed among the "greatest ever" like Villeneuve frequently is...
Fully agree. People only seem to recognise greatness when it's 'in your face'. Prost was as skillful as they come. He just wasn't prepared to take crazy risks.
Prost was frightingly brutally fast during a race. Like a freight train.
Look at the numbers in a shortened career and how revered Senna was by his peers alone tells you how shit of a take this is.
Ayrton was great, no question about it. But he also introduced the wheel-banging, win at any cost approach that was carried to extremes later by Schumacher, etc. @@tuneman7688
Stefan fully deserved to have been in Ferrari at least until 88.
Ferrari doing Ferrari things
will always be a prost fan, thanks stefan johansson for sharing your experience
Something very interesting about Prost is that he wasn't a great qualifier, but instead used to setup his car for the race. And all drivers said that when he was the fastest during the sunday warmup, he would always win.
I think his performance in qualifying vs Senna has kind of tainted the perception of how fast he was in quali. He beat or matched every other teammate so, other than Senna, he really was a great qualifier - just not the very best.
@@adelaidecity76 I think Prost recognised early on that he was at a very different stage in his career. As the more established driver, he didn't have anything to prove so there was no real point in trying to beat Ayrton at his own game. The McLaren was so superior it allowed him to comfortably qualify ahead of everyone else, which is all he needed to do really. Make no mistake, Prost could be very, very quick. He just didn't feel the need to show it all the time. Always one step ahead...
@@nielsbierman2958 That's right but then he beat or matched everyone after Senna, including Mansell, Alesi and Hill - none of them exactly slow. Interestingly, Lauda basically made the same decision in 1984 that Prost made with Senna.
@@adelaidecity76 definitely not slow, but maybe not at the very very top level either (and this is coming from a Hill-fan). It seems to me that Lauda and Prost were just wily characters with a very methodical approach. Always looking to gain an edge beyond pure speed. Alonso is another in the same mould. I much prefer this type of driver to one who is 0.1 sec quicker in qualifying but flies off the road on lap 3. 😄
@@adelaidecity76 Considering Senna won 1 championships by cheating over Prost ( striking ) and was favored by Honda , confirmed maybe by better speed by Prost in Ferrari team, it is clear Prost i far better than Senna who was maybe fast but dangerous
So very true about Alain Prost!
Prost had five world champion teammates. He beat 'em all. Senna (actually outscored him both 88 and 89), K.Rosberg, Mansell, Hill and Lauda. There is no other driver with such track record. Scumacher never had a decent teammate. Well he had 40-year old Piquet for 6 races who actually outscored him in those.
Barrichello was one of the best in his era. Massa nearly won the championship in 2008. Schumacher was just too good for them.
@@mpgnz73 During Schumacher's reign there were only two super talents. Hakkinen and Alonso. Maybe Raikkonen 2003-2005 in super unreliable McLaren. Prost dominated in much more competitive era.
You're spitting straight facts. 100% agree. For me, Prost and Clark are the GOATs.
We won't even talk about how Schumacher had contractually crippled teammates and had bespoke tires. Bridgestone developed tires around the Ferrari powered teams so essentially they were developed around Michael. They were personalized for him and everyone else had to live with them or run Michelin. Schumacher's not even in the conversation for the greatest ever. That conversation is Fangio, Clark, Prost and Senna. Hamilton will be part of that conversation after he retires.
@@Dashriprock4 Preach, brother! Preach! Amen!
You’ve said it all! Great champion and great human being!😁
The original F1 Smooth Operator.
From a Senna fan, Alain was fantastic driver. Cold until Senna step in and give him nightmares, for sure. Senna and Prost was taken in to the edge. Hard times for both.
Thanks for sharing this.
Prost was Senna's target - he may as well have painted a bullseye on his back! Senna knew Prost was the best and to beat Prost meant he beat the best. I think Prost is totally underrated - he was very fast, smooth and drove at the limit, but wasn't spectacular like Senna. When Prost was fast, he looked slow - that just shows how much bandwidth Prost had in the car both physically and mentally to stay at the limit. Had Senna not died, he might have surpassed Prost's 4 title total - but by 1994 all the greats were gone (Prost, Mansell, Piquet) only Schumacher, starting his 3rd year in F1 was Senna's competition. Prost had to beat Lauda, Mansell, Piquet, Senna, and more to get his 4 titles. Truly a great driver!
Don't forget that the score could be Prost 5, Senna 2 had Senna not intentionally crashed Prost in Suzuka.
@@danmetz51121
Without the absurd rule of 1988, Prost would have won also the 1988 championship because he scored more points than Senna.
funny how stefan mentions how prost scuppered senna out of a seat at williams in 93 but dosent mention ayrton knocking him out of his home team mclaren in 1989
Prost won the championship in 1989. Senna was 2nd. Actually Prost scored way more points in 1988 as well but the insane points system gave Senna the title.
@@detonator2112 the 'insane' points system was in place since the beginning of F1 in 1950....and all drivers were aware of this points system which actually favored drivers who actually literally went for the win...Im not quite sure whats 'insane' about that.
11 best point finishes - so driver to best approach 11 wins, wins the championship.
Same rules for all, race accordingly
Couldn't agree more. Lots of people look at Senna's pole record, and say Senna was the faster driver. Maybe. But if you compare the fastest race laps, Prost leads that by a much bigger margin than Senna's pole stats. People miss that point.
I think Stefan is probably right, Ayrton was definitely more emotional and that can affect your driving. However I take issue with him saying Prost knew how to plan his career by picking the Williams. It hardly took a professor to realise the Williams was the best car after the 90, 91 & 92 season progression. Alain was frothing at the mouth to get into it by all means by 1993
In hindsight, it looks like a slam dunk. But F1 isn't always that straightforward: upsets happen, and the team with the most money back then was McLaren. Had the MP4/8 had a better engine, it might've been a proper challenger for the FW15c: in 1993 McLaren had somewhat caught up in terms of chassis and electronics. Not quite there, but close. And when Prost signed, I believe Honda had yet to announce their departure from the sport.
Williams were reported as wanting to sign Prost because he was easier to deal with than Mansell who was inclined to blame any of his poor performances on his car and was less easy to work with than Prost who was very amiable.
Williams was the quickest car already from 1991 (where it suffered from reliability, otherwise would’ve won the championship), 1992 far ahead on a league of its own, as well as 93’
"emotional and can affect your driving " Senna won Monaco 6 times, is that right?
prost is the greatest imo
That's sucks for you
I agree Prost is the supreme F1 driver.
Bernic Eccelstone and eddie jordan and jenson button and david coulthard agree with me so I don't think@@BrewerUMich91
Clark, Fangio, and Prost are my top three.
As far as conveying data to the engineers Senna takes the cake
Steve Nichols of McLaren says different.
Prost was the man who continued the Lauda's legacy...
Prost only vetoed Senna because it was impossible to work with him; because of how dirty Senna played. He also remembered how McLaren and Honda favoured Senna against him. But he didn't vetoed anyone else and he didn't even ask to be the no1 on the team. As far as he knew he was racing with Nigel Mansell in Williams.
Prost vetoed Piquet from Mclaren
@@John-mi2rt Nope, Prost indicated Senna to Ron Dennis and others on the team. He picked the best which was the the best decision for the team, but a terrible decision for him. But Yes, Piquet, on the human level, could be even worse than Senna.
@@archibaldocruz4561 According to renown British F1 journalist Alan Henry in his book The Turbo Years Prost went as far as sidelining Ron Dennis and went directly to Marlboro to veto Piquet. Happily take Alan Henry's word on the topic. Thanks
@@John-mi2rt If I was you I wouldn't take the word of any English, per se, but that is me. I stick with Prost with saying the truth. Besides, everybody by then knew that Senna was the future and better than Piquet. Prost chose the best to "fight" with and help McLaren. And he was right. Together they did the best team that ever existed and the best choice for McLaren.
@@archibaldocruz4561 Gordon Murray replaced John Barnard as Mclaren technical director. Murray worked with Piquet at Brabham. Murray wanted Piquet at Mclaren. Piquet even visited Mclaren Headquarters. Prost did not want Piquet at Mclaren. Prost had Piquet vetoed.
Don't tell me who to believe and get your head out of Prost's arse.
Prost did this in an era where team management and strategy was either in its infancy or completely non-existent.
Alain Prost, el mejor piloto que vi en la F 1 .
Alan Jones says a big hello to Steve Johnson
Top 5 is in no particular order; Jim Clark, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost.
5-10; Is so difficult, but I would put names like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Mika Häkkinen. But there's so many more that it's so difficult to name, but I stand with the top 5, F1 fan since 1998
Other elite names would be, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Gragham Hill, Nigel Mansell, Robert Kubica (call me crazy), Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, John Surtees and so on.
I totally agree with your top5, it's also mine
Prost is up there at the top 5. I would like one day that drivers vote for that, not the casuals…
Always enjoyed his driving...should have won at Imola instead of running out of fuel!!!
If Alain was British, media would be treated him like god. Same with Janaeses, Honda had 20 engineers for Senna but just 3 for Alain
I say something stupid as prost did in a F1 race and he riding himself dead he was a legend as Senna
I am still a fan of The Little Leaf.
@V Union ULB (former Ferrari F1 teammate) = INCORRECT...McLaren team mate in 1987.
Love ya man
There’s a bias here as they were teammates and became friends. Clearly. But of course, he makes some valid points. Prost was a great driver as an overall package, definitely one of the all time greats. Intelligent and patient, played the long game extremely well. Senna was obviously more purely talented and the quickest driver F1 has ever seen - the quali laps were something else. But I don’t think Prost was superior overall as Stefan indirectly says, Prost could bring his game up on Sundays and challenge Senna, ultimately though Senna was ahead more often and suffered from DNFs in 89’ and the “robbed” Suzuka win, which prevented him from likely winning that championship as well. The years he didn’t win (92 & 93) were simply due to the fact that the Williams were far superior machines. I have never seen Prost outperform a car like Senna did several times with the Lotus and the McLarens from 92’ and specially 93’ (some truly brilliant drives from Senna that year)
Yeah thats fine, I'll take Senna any day of the week and twice on Sunday
Are You Dead!
And your team will not win as many championships
i always thought prost is a better driver than senna. possibly even faster. senna did and said things that made great catch lines. if you no longer go for a gap etc. yeah but you end up crashing the car. prost on the other hand...
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Prost was an amazing driver and has a strong argument for being the best of his era. With all due respect though I don’t think the criticism of Senna here is fair. If not for Imola ‘94 in all likeliness Senna is retiring with 5-6 WDC’s and as the most successful driver.
Prost was incredibly talented and extremely fast (ask Keke Rosberg). But in Senna he met his match. Senna was clearly quicker and finished ahead of Senna in their second season in pretty much all of his victories (whereas Prost only won when Senna failed to finish).Senna got inside Prost's head....and the fact that Prost needed a "no Senna" clause at williams shows he was intimidated by him and did not want to have to prove his superior ability on the track (because Senna would have destroyed him).....and before people say "he just didn't want confrontation in the team" take a reality pill and look at all the teams with two near equal drivers. There is rarely ever a harmonious team. That's ego's for you, and a determination to win. We will never know how Senna compared to Schumaker, or Hamilton or Verstappen. But for me he was the best of his generation.
You do remember Prost outscored Senna in both years at McLaren... And pushed Senna the following year in a Ferrari which hadn't been close to winning a championship in years... Prost and Senna were friends off track... and hated each other while at McLaren... Why would he sign up for that again at Williams? He wasn't intimidated by any driver! He just played the whole game... not just the driving side of it...
Jenson Button outpointed Lewis Hamilton, so Jenson was better, yes? Look at the races Senna won and whether Prost finished the race. Then look at the races Prost won and whether Senna finished. But then the "Prost looked after his car" arguments will start which, of course, are utter nonsense. Senna was faster in qualifying and faster in the race, and where they both finished, was usually ahead of Prost.
@johnbiggs9561 You're looking at history from a very biased perspective! But yeah... keep believing man! Haha
No, facts. And Prost didn't outpoint Senna....only if you include all the finishes. But of course those weren't the rules back then. It was best 11 results. So Senna outpointed Prost. Not total results for the season. Just like few would ever say Lauda was better than Prost, even though they shared championships at McClaren. Few would say Prost was as good as Senna.
There was another difference. Weight restrictions were not applicable on the 80s and early 90s. Prost was at least 10kg lighter than Senna what was an advantage for Prost that was the smaller driver on the track. If the driver weight was to be considered, Prost would have had harder time
Yes, requesting clause to deny Ayrton join Williams in 1993 was truly an image af the most complete driver of its time.
One of the rare moments that Prost copied Senna - who demanded similar clauses all the time, since his Lotus' days. Can't blame Prost, seeing the bigger picture early on, something Senna never could.
Considering Senna won 1 championships by cheating over Prost ( striking ) and was favored by Honda , confirmed maybe by better speed by Prost in Ferrari team, it is clear Prost is far better than Senna who was maybe fast but dangerous
J'ai cru que c'était Francis Cabrel
Confusing...
I saw Alain as a manipulator to achieve his outcomes. The stopped race in Monaco when Senna overtook him for his first podium, the disqualification in Suzuka, veto rights of teammates. Senna didn’t play those games he just drove faster than everyone else.
Senna vetoed Derek warwick's entry to Lotus in 1986
@@LD-oq9lx you’re right, I had forgotten about that. Was a different context as the team couldn’t support two primary drivers but you are correct.
Prost didn’t stop the Monaco 84 race. Senna wanted Japan 88 stopped. Senna vetoed teammates and wanted Mansell suspended after Portugal 89. Prost wasn’t political at all. He spoke his mind - often to his own cost.
Mansell welcomed Prost to Ferrari with open arms. But then he realized he gets his ass kicked he started to give statements to BBC how Prost does "politics". Prost spoke Italian so Mansell convinced Murray Walker that the team was behind Prost. Nope. Prost just kicked his ass. Just like Elio de Angelis kicked Mansell's ass in Lotus, Keke Rosberg made him look like an amateur in Williams 1985 and then he was beaten by Piquet in 1987. Mansell claimed that Honda put self destructive chips into his car because they didn't want him to win the WDC. Sounds absolutely ridiculous but check the 1987 season review, don't take my word for it.
Mansell was a fast guy but very reckless driver who made many crucial mistakes. And a whiner to boot. Even when he won a race he always had some physical issues or the car was bad... and it was only his heroic skills that brought the podium. And he drove absolute top cars throughout his whole career. He's not the God that UK media always said he was. Sure, Adelaide 1986 was bad luck I'll give him that. I guess that's where the "Prost and politics" stuff came to the UK media. From Mansell. It was BS.
Another argument is that FIA was favoring Prost because Jean-Maria Balestre happened to be French. There is no evidence that he ever favored Prost. Senna should have been stripped from the Japan 1990 race results because he deliberately knocked Prost out and secured the WDC.
Senna didn't play games? That's hilarious. Educate yourself.
There's only two drivers in history that whinged more than Prost. Step forward Nigel Mansell n Sir Lewis Hamilton 😅🤣😂
Bitchin shed Stefan 😎
I guess you didn't know who really Senna was
What about you? lol
Prost was far better than Ayrton on a championship.
Prost beat him in points both 1988 and 1989 when they were teammates. Senna won the 1988 title because of the weird points system they used back then. Senna was faster in one lap but Prost was more complete driver.
I guess that's what the Hollywood movie didn't tell you.
yeah stefan you can say all that about big nose prost ,everyone knows ayrton had more talent in his little toe than prost the windbag he knew he wouldnt beat senna in 1993 if senna was in the other williams that year so he put a veto in the contract he was a coward and a weasel and never put it on the line in qualifying or wet races ,the way senna & mansell did .great analysis stefan you fraggle .
Senna was a nutcase with ADD.disorder.
Great drivers don’t overdrive!
Very sad comment
In regards to Senna Bull ****
@@nicjackson5741If Senna didn’t overdrive he would have been WC in 89 easy. He would have also won in 88 by a large margin - remember Monaco and Italy that year? 18 points lost through recklessness. In 91 he was a better driver and beat the superior Williams. Mind you - a Prost in that 91 Williams would have given him a tough time of it. Mansell was another who over did it often and he lost 3 WC as a result.
Alain was the Lewis of the 80s / 90s for me, while Ayrton is more the early Max.
As a Senna Fan I can really relate to Stefans commentary here.
Prost drove the way better/much more competitive cars overall compared to ayrton, and also drove more seasons, but their win ratio is virtually identical.
Prost beat five world champion teammates. FIVE! Senna (actually twice if the 88 points system were reasonable), Lauda, Keke Rosberg (who was easily the fastest guy of previous year 1985 but with unreliable car), Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.
No other driver has such record, not even close. Schumacher only had puppets and lackeys as teammates. And the competition was much tougher during Prost era. 1985 had seven world champions on the grid. Schumacher only had to face three top drivers during his whole reign (Hakkinen, prime Raikkonen and Alonso). At least Hamilton had a proper teammate Nico. Schumi only had 40 year old Piquet for 6 races (who actually beat him in points during those 6 GP's).
@@detonator2112 the points system was reasonable in 88 - they were the rules since the 1950s, it rewarded going for the win and not sitting back and being all strategic. Same rules for everyone, race accordingly
If you had changed the rules to all points go towards the championship then that wouldve changed the outcome of the races so your point is moot
also beating keke rosberg and damon hill is barely saying anything tbh
@@1greenMitsi You don't know much about F1 if you don't appreciate what Rosberg did with ridiculously underpowered Williams 1982-1984. 83 he beat Laffite 13-1 and 1984 he beat Laffite 14-1. 1985 Williams was fast but unreliable. In 1985 he made Mansell look like an amateur and beat him easily. Just check the stats man.
@@detonator2112 really? dude, Rosberg won the most contested championship in history....and he won it with 1 win. The end
And lets not even start on Hill's 96 championship which was handed to him on a silver platter
It's interesting to early from someone close he was a nice guy to be around. He is the "profressor", the one who calculate which does not sound fun to most. But one can take his job very seriously and be relaxed when it's done.