How Alain Prost nearly returned… with Ferrari

Alain Prost was 38 when he retired from Formula 1 at the end of 1993. But much like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton today, he really wasn’t ready to. That’s why he came close to a return following a rapprochement with Ron Dennis. But it turns out a mooted mid-decade comeback with McLaren wasn’t the only option.

“You know, if I have a regret, it is not when I was a driver – it is when I bought Ligier,” he says. “That is my biggest regret. In 1995, I was back at McLaren, I was very happy and I could still be part of this team, in a different way. I shouldn’t have made this stupid decision.”

Prost could have raced the Peugeot-powered McLaren in 1994, but backed away – to the benefit of Martin Brundle. But he made several appearances at tests, even as late as 1996 when he could have returned to the grid in an even more sensational way.

“At McLaren we had a discussion at one stage,” says Prost. “You know, I was testing a bit and I was still not bad…” Then the bombshell: “Even Ferrari, I was talking with Jean Todt. It was a very strange discussion. Michael [Schumacher] was there, it was his first year in 1996 and I said to Jean, ‘Why not?’”

So Prost could have raced a John Barnard Ferrari beside a newly arrived Michael Schumacher? Apparently so. And there’s more.

“I said, ‘If I do it, I want to have the whole world know that I go to Ferrari like a number two, try to make Ferrari win and for Michael to win the title,’” he claims. “There was no point being equal. But I could help. It did not happen. Maybe it’s better.”

Ferrari instead settled for Eddie Irvine. It’s hard to imagine Prost as a number two but why didn’t it come to pass? Prost smiles. “I spoke to Jean a few weeks ago about that. We don’t remember why it did not happen! We don’t recall the moment when we said it wouldn’t work.”

But just imagine. As F1 what-might’ve-beens go, it’s a juicy new entry.