Was Jean Alesi Under-Rated?

[Emmcee 0]

I agree mansell still would've won the 92 title, he drove brilliant all season and no one deserves it more at that time. As for Prost, he was a great driver but lacked that little bit extra that senna had, of course we didn't know that until he was teamed up with senna.

[Ruslan 0]

Actually, I consider Prost the better all around driver than Senna. The match-up between Prost and Senna at McLaren was ideal for Senna's take no prisoner's style. If there were more than two competitive cars in a season, I think Prost would be favored.

[Sakae 0]

Alain Prost was my first favorite F1 driver followed by Schumacher, Kimi (1y), and then Vettel. Prost added something to a race which made worthwhile to come to the race track. His "reeling in" guys ahead of him and win a race was art which seems to have disappeared from racing in recent years.

[Emmcee 0]

Actually, I consider Prost the better all around driver than Senna. The match-up between Prost and Senna at McLaren was ideal for Senna's take no prisoner's style. If there were more than two competitive cars in a season, I think Prost would be favored.

I don't, no way, Prost was considered a good wet weather driver also, that's until ayrton took the mantle. Donington 1993 was the race were the car didn't matter, it was all down to skill and we all know just how underpowered his mclaren was compared to the dominant Williams and senna made Prost and everyone look like monkeys.

[Ruslan 0]

Senna always pushed to the limit all the time. How many races did he crash while leading, either hitting a back marker or the wall? I can think of three, but there were more. He was not faster than Prost, he was more willing to take risks.

[Emmcee 0]

I beleive he was faster and Monaco 86 proved that and then every other Monaco and wet weather race after that to. The two things that people and fans of f1 judge a driver by his outright speed and car control is either a dominant or always dominant Monaco races like senna and Schumacher and being fast consistently in the wet. There were only two drivers that could do this and those two drivers are classed as the two fastest ever in f1. But it's all up to personal opinion. See in my opinion Prost was like what jenson button is today, fast and very smooth, and very similar to Valentino Rossi in MotoGP where as senna just had the better overall car control in whatever situation and was bloody quick doing it to, Prost didn't seem as strong mentally as ayrton either, but he did have a close relationship to the head of f1, a fellow Frenchman who only had tunnel vision and a vendetta against ayrton senna.

My all time top 3 drivers based on my opinion on what I saw and based that of my years of experience in competitive go kart championships.

1- Ayrton Senna: fastest I've ever seen in any condition and just his car control and determination could possibly be only matched by schumi.

2- Michael Schumacher: he is literally a bee's d!ck behind senna IMO, senna slightly possessed more natural speed but car control,race craft and determination was basically equal, Schumacher however not only the most successful but I beleive he was the most smartest aswell. He took it of the circuit by recruiting particular people who were good in the field and built a team around him.

3- Alain Prost: I put him third because that's where I feel he belongs, a lot of prosts success came from being at the right place at the right time and I don't think possessed the out right pace of the two guys ahead of him on my list. However, he is the smoothest driver I have ever seen and perhaps that's why he is called "The Professor" as he is so accurate with his lines.

So that's my personal top 3.

[Ruslan 0]

There was not much difference between these two. We had 32 races where they were teammates and driving the same equipment. Over the course of those two seasons they each won one championship. Senna won 14 races, Prost won 11. Prost had 186 points, Senna had 154 points. The real difference was in qualifying, where Senna had 26 poles, while Prost only had 4 poles. In contrast Prost has 12 fastest laps to Senna's 6.

There is really not much difference between these two drivers. Senna was the faster qualifier and in my opinion, took a lot more risks. As far as I can tell, neither was faster than the other. Certainly no clear difference was established by their race pace in 32 shared-team races, although Senna usually started in front.

The "right place at the right time" really does not apply to Prost. Another 2 1/2 points in the right place and he would have had 7 World Championships, vice 4. This was a driver that was among the top three in the championship over a dozen times, and won as many or more races than any other driver in almost every season he raced, except for Senna. He is certainly not comparable to Button.

[Emmcee 0]

It was Prost who said he holds individual victories closer to him than championships, I realise Prost could've won more titles but so could have senna if his life wasn't cut short, so could've Schumacher,he won 41 gps faster than Prost did, senna could catch Prost and pass him on circuit, Prost could very rarly do the same. Prost wouldn't have won his last title if he didn't sign with the dominant Williams team, it pi$$ed senna of so much that Prost went to this extent to beat him and made it quite vocal that Prost couldn't beat him in the same car so to say he wasn't in the right place at the right time does apply as Ferrari sacked him and he became a commentator for one season because he couldn't find a drive, I doubt the same would've happened to senna. IMO, Prost didn't posses the natural speed senna did, but no one did. I remember Prost waving his hands furiously to stop the 86 Monaco race as senna was catching him and so the race was stopped making Prost the winner, Prost got passed in Donington 93 also in the Williams that was supposed to excel in those conditions, Prost couldn't do anything but watch senna pull away, that's one thing I've never ever seen Prost do and that's pass ayrton in the wet and pull away. The wet conditions are best conditions to examine skill as all the hp struggles to get used as grips at a minimum and that's where the skill comes in, driving it closest to the edge in those conditions. Ross Brawn once said Schumacher actually over drives the car over the limit but brings it back in each correction a corner May last two or three seconds, in that time he could make ten or more corrections if one of those corrections is a tenth to slow, the car will be out of control and senna was exactly the same in that regard, but this is my own opinion.

[Ruslan 0]

Actually, I think you are referring to Monoco in 1984, when they called the race early when Prost was leading and Senna was closing in a Toleman. Wikipedia does state about this :

"On lap 29, Prost waved to the stewards of the race to indicate that he felt the race should be stopped. He was also suffering from a major brake imbalance as his McLaren's carbon brakes were locking due to not generating enough heat in the conditions, the same problem that had caused Lauda to spin at Casino Square on lap 23, whereupon he stalled his engine and was out of the race. A slowing Prost waved again on lap 31 as he passed the start/finish line.

The red flag to stop the race was shown at the end of the 32nd lap after clerk of the course Jacky Ickx decided that conditions were too poor for the race to continue...Speculation that the early red flag cost both Ayrton Senna and Toleman their first race win proved to be false when the team's mechanics later revealed that suspension damage to his car would have forced him to retire within a few laps of when the race was stopped"

[Emmcee 0]

84 yes my mistake but personally I don't think Prost comes close to senna, he tried to many mind games to try weaken senna as he couldn't beat him on circuit, like senna said when he found out in 1992 that Prost joined Williams for next season " it's all laid out before you start, it's like doing a 100 metre sprint and everyone has lead shoes,he has running shoes, this is the way he wants to racing,it's not racing" and I firmly believe Prost did this just to have one up on ayrton, heck Prost even had a clause in the contract saying the team isn't allowed to hire ayrton as his teammate, what was Prost scared of? Getting beaten again and saving what ever legacy he had left after senna tainted it? Aurton wasn't scared, he was ready to do battle, it was just Prost who wanted whatever advantage possible even if it went against the moral ethics of the sport from a drivers point of view.

Here I found a short video.

[Ruslan 0]

Well, if it is 84...then Bellof was faster than both of them, and would have passed them both if the race had continued another lap or two. I don't think Monaco 1984 makes the argument you want it to make.

<< but personally I don't think Prost comes close to senna, >>

Then you have greatly diminished Senna's accomplishments, as he was beaten one season by a mediocre teammate.

[Emmcee 0]

You talking about when they excluded him from the championship because ballestre wanted Prost to win? Disqualifying him for cutting the chicane and not do the same at hockenhiem 8 months later when Prost and a few drivers did the same thing?