The reason for Alain Prost’s smooth driving style: ‘I couldn’t afford a mechanic!’

There’s no mistaking the precise, deliberate, smooth driving style that Alain Prost deployed to win four Formula 1 world championships.

It was a technique that delivered sensational victories across the world but which, Prost revealed, has its roots in a pragmatic approach to tackling French junior karting series.

The former Renault, McLaren and Williams driver told guests at a Motor Sport gala evening that he first adopted the technique out of necessity, knowing that he would be the one that would have to fix any mechanical damage.

Asked by F1 pundit Karun Chandhok whether his trademark technique came naturally, Prost said: “It’s something that you build yourself slowly. I think it also came from the fact that when I started in go karting, I was taking care of the mechanics myself.

“I had not a lot of money, as a lot of people [don’t] when they start motor racing, I was taking care of everything.”

Forty years after winning his first Formula 1 world championship with McLaren, Prost was feted at the Motor Sport celebration event, held at the Raffles London hotel.

Among the crowd were former McLaren team members, engineers and racing peers including Martin Brundle, John Watson, Jonathan Palmer and Martin Donnelly.

Also present was a Prost-badged McLaren MP4/2B from the 1985 season, supplied by the Garage 59 racing team.

As Prost’s contemporaries shared their memories of racing alongside, but more frequently behind, him, they repeatedly returned to the theme of his extraordinarily controlled driving style.

“He was always a big dog,” said Brundle. “Every time I saw Alain, I thought, ‘That’s pretty strange. I’ve only ever noticed him on an in-lap or an out-lap’. And then I realised that was an Alain Prost lap.

“He was so calm and controlled, he never looked in a hurry. The car was never moving around, he would never miss a shift: he had a command of the car. We’re amongst one of the greatest drivers of all time.”

Steve Nichols, who designed the dominant 1988 title-winning McLaren MP4/4, described watching a seemingly slow Prost at Spa-Francorchamps. “I thought, ‘He must have a problem’ so I wandered back to the garage and he was on pole!”

The effect of Prost’s driving technique was clear back in the pit garage too, as detailed by Jo Ramirez, McLaren’s team co-ordinator in 1985, who recalled that season’s Australian Grand Prix where Prost took victory and his team-mate, Keke Rosberg retired early.

“After the race, we checked the brakes on Keke’s car,” said Ramirez. “He wouldn’t have finished the race — no way. [Alain’s] brakes and his pads would do another race. It was incredible. Seeing the gears, the cogs, they could do two more races.