Alain Prost, known as 'The Professor' because of his meticulous attention to detail and near-faultless driving technique, always had an eye on the record books. He now has two entries of his own -- as France's first motor racing world champion and as the first man for 26 years to retain the title.
But his main aim remains to overhaul Jackie Stewart's record of 27 Grand Prix wins.
With his triumph Sunday in Adelaide, Australia, which clinched his second title, he moved to within two victories of his target. He now is tied with Niki Lauda and Jim Clark with 25 wins and one ahead of the great Juan Manuel Fangio.
He achieved another coveted ambition in 1986 by becoming the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960 to win the world championship two years in succession.
Until he secured the world title in 1985 -- with a record-equalling seven wins in a season -- the tiny, gnome-like Prost had to live with the tag of 'always the bridesmaid.' He came close to winning the world title each of the previous three years, and missed out each time.
In both 1983 and 1984, he was edged for the title only in the final race of the season. Three years ago, the championship seemed wrapped up but Prost was eventually beaten to the post by Nelson Piquet, while in 1984 the Frenchman was agonizingly beaten by half a point for the title by teammate Lauda.
That rankled badly with the ambitious Prost and he set out in 1985 with characteristic style, skill and calculation to make sure of the title this time around.
Few could deny Prost's right to be world champion sooner or later. His 25 wins from 105 Grands Prix is a success rate far ahead of all the other current Formula One drivers and he is recognized as one of the smoothest drivers ever in Formula One -- a man who rarely makes a mistake.
Those meticulous and economical skills earned Prost his nickname and the respect, if not always the endearment in his early career, of his Formula One colleagues.
His three years at Renault from 1981 to 1983 were frequently tense. Prost had a spectacular bust-up with teammate Rene Arnoux in 1982, and an equally acrimonious divorce from Renault at the end of the 1983 season.
Prost scored his first Grand Prix win, for Renault, at Dijon, France, in August 1981. In the next two years, he added a further eight race victories but the Renault's unreliability cost him his chances of the 1982 and 1983 world titles.
A naturally vivacious man, Prost in 1984 and 1985 became -- by his own admission -- a much more relaxed and mature person than during his time at Renault. He and Lauda dominated the 1984 season as no pairof drivers had ever done before, between them notching 12 wins and five second places in the 16 races.
Prost, an inveterate nail-biter, gets away from the pressure of auto racing at every opportunity by playing golf. He also retreats whenever possible to his Swiss home at St. Croix, just across the French border, to be with his wife Anne-Marie and young son Nicolas.
Like many Grand Prix drivers, Prost began his auto racing career as a teenager on the kart circuits. He became the French and European champion before making an instant impact in the 1976 Formula Renault Challenge.
Born at St. Chamond in southern France Feb. 24, 1955, he took every step up the auto racing ladder in his stride. In 1977, he won the Formula Renault Europe championship. He was the French Formula Three champion the following season, and took the European title for the category in 1979.
That triumph opened the way for a Formula One drive with McLaren. Prost, then a 24-year-old, again proved himself a fast learner, scoring points in his first two outings, in Argentina and Brazil.
He switched to Renault in 1981 and, again, quickly mastered new techniques in the team's turbocharged cars.
But it was only back at McLaren that Prost fulfilled his great potential.
