He may have won four Formula One world titles — but that doesn’t mean Alain Prost has lost his appetite for winning.
Now the Frenchman, nicknamed “The Professor” for his erudite approach to motorsport, has set his sights on winning the Formula E title as a team owner.
Prost’s Renault e.Dams team tops the constructor standings, but his main driver Sebastian Buemi trails championship leader Lucas di Grassi by 11 points in the drivers’ title race ahead of Saturday’s Berlin ePrix.
“We want to win,” Prost told CNN before the round eight race. “We have a good team and a good technical partner with Renault.
“If we are supposed to be one of the best teams, maybe the best, we need to win this year. If we don’t, it will be a disappointment.”
The title race so far
Di Grassi, who drives for the German Audi Abt Schaeffler team, moved into the championship lead in Long Beach, pulling further clear when he won the most recent race in Paris.
While the Brazilian has seized the momentum, Buemi has not taken the checkered flag since winning Uruguay’s Punta del Este race in December.
But Prost — whose son Nico also races for the Renault team — remains sanguine about its championship chances in season two.
“It is never a disaster,” the 61-year-old said. “If we don’t win the title it is because we have made some mistakes. But it is still possible to win the world championship.”
Why Formula E?
Prost retired from F1 in 1993 after winning his fourth and final world title. He bought the Ligier team, running it as Prost Grand Prix for five seasons before it folded in 2001.
The thrill of the new world of electric racing lured the legendary driver back into team ownership.
“It was important for me to live something new and to be one of the first,” Prost, who co-founded the team with Jean-Paul Driot and with technical support from the Renault car manufacturer, explained.
“If you are at the beginning, you can try to make things better — you are involved.
“It was a gamble because we didn’t know what was going to happen. Formula E is getting better and better. I still don’t know what the position of the championship will be [in the future].”
Racing moves into the city
There is something new for everyone at the Berlin ePrix, being held in the center of the German capital for the first time.
A new venue had to be found as the original location, the disused Tempelhof airport, is being used by the German government as a temporary home for thousands of refugees.
The circuit is the second shortest on the 2015-16 calendar at just 2.03km (1.26 miles).
The cars will race under the looming Berlin TV tower in Alexanderplatz, with the pit lane situated on the famous Karl-Marx-Allee.
It will be the first time in almost 20 years that car have raced through the middle of Berlin — and Prost will be hoping a race win will set up his first championship for almost as long.
