Onboard with Alain Prost Around Monaco in 1981
Image: Alain Prost in France on the way to the first Grand Prix victory of his career in 1981, thanks to the Cahier Archive
Hop on board with The Professor, Alain Prost, for a unique perspective on the streets of Monaco in 1981.
This video puts you up above the driver’s seat of Alain Prost’s Renault RE30 as he takes punters for a tour of the Monaco circuit on the eve of the car’s racing debut mid-way through the 1981 season. It’s a great shot, showing off the claustrophobic walls of Monaco and the glittering scenery that surrounds them, along with Prost’s inputs at the wheel and the wheels and suspension hard at work keeping everything on the black stuff.
The 1981 Formula 1 season was a bi-polar one for Alain Prost and he either finished a race on the podium or didn’t finish it at all. It was not, however, unsuccessful and played a formative role in his career. He picked up his first pole position in the German Grand Prix, took the first Grand Prix win of his career at home in the French Grand Prix and would also win the Dutch and Italian Grand Prix.
Monaco, however, would be of the unsuccessful variety for both him and teammate René Arnoux. Arnoux left the race after a spin on lap 32 and Prost followed with an engine failure thirteen laps later.
