Prost relives past glories in France

Alain Prost has many great memories of racing at Le Castellet, the French Formula One track that returns to the calendar this weekend for the first time in 28 years, but the wins are only part of the story.

The retired four-times world champion, his country’s most successful racer by far, triumphed at the track near Marseille four times in total – three in a row and Ferrari’s 100th grand prix victory in 1990.

“Le Professeur” also gave Renault a commanding home victory from pole position in 1983.

With other wins at Dijon Prenois in 1981 and Magny Cours in 1993, no driver has won more home grands prix than Prost, although Britain’s Lewis Hamilton could equal that at Silverstone this season.

Some of Prost’s fondest recollections, however, are not necessarily the ones you would expect; of winter testing and the fans who flocked to the circuit to watch and soak up the noise of the engines.

“We had contact with the people,” the 63-year-old, now a Renault ambassador, said in a recent interview. Today, I very often meet people who say they became interested in Formula One because they were looking at the tests [at Le Castellet] in winter.

“We were going to the small restaurant to have a sandwich between the tests and you have the people there.

“It was really a sort of a community,” he said.

“And all these memories come back to me when I am talking about Paul Ricard.”

Created by the late pastis magnate Paul Ricard in 1970, the circuit will host the first French Grand Prix since Magny-Cours in 2008 – a switch from the heart of rural France to the sunny Mediterranean south.

The track layout has changed, the famed Mistral straight now tamed by the addition of a chicane, but for Prost the main thing is that France is back.

“France has always been part of Formula One history, in any kind of manner. With constructors, manufacturers and drivers. So that’s the first good news,” he said. –