Alain Prost Q&A
Back in 1990 Ferrari's title hopes ended when Ayrton Senna's McLaren drove Alain Prost off the road at Suzuka. This year's battle was resolved in rather more gentlemanly fashion. Prost himself now has a foot in both camps; he remains a close friend of Ron Dennis and the rest of the McLaren hierarchy, but he's just signed a three-year deal to use Ferrari engines from next year. Adam Cooper spoke to the quadruple World Champion after Sunday's championship decider
"I'm quite pleased for Ferrari. They've worked very hard and they deserved to get it today. It was quite a nice race and a nice championship, and in the end Michael and Ferrari worked together well. Obviously McLaren and Mercedes and Mika have done a fantastic job also. I think they lost the championship in the first three races, and then it became more difficult, but you cannot say that Michael and Ferrari do not deserve to win at least one title."
"No, I'm very much outside, and even if I have a Ferrari engine I'm part of the McLaren family for a long time. Sometimes I feel a little bit embarrassed!"
"Yes, I nearly did it. I think with the same management and the same organisation they have today, I would have won this title in 1990. I lost it only because of political comments, strange decisions, political reasons. But anyway, it's like this. Michael and Ferrari were very close to winning it before, and I was very close in 1990. I think the biggest difference in the last 10 years is that even if they have not won the championship they have kept the motivation and kept working hard, and that was not possible 10 years ago."
"For sure he is very good. If one day I have to be beaten, I prefer to be beaten by someone like him."
"I think to be good all the time, and be able to motivate the people, motivate the team, make them work well together. There are no politics inside the team, and obviously everybody is focused on him. You can see on the track, in every kind of condition he's always good, in private tests and official tests and the race, so it's very good for the team."
"I don't know yet, honestly. But I think it's looking quite good."
"Yes, because otherwise you cannot get sponsors and technicians and so on. It's very important."
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