“I hated the guy”

When Alain Prost joined the McLaren team and thus replaced John Watson for the 1984 season, rumours circulated that Niki Lauda was less than impressed with the appointment of such a competitive team-mate.

Niki Lauda: “I hated the guy. When I saw him I got upset, because I knew he was so fast, he was my biggest enemy, in the same team.”

But the duo did work. In fact, they turned out to be good to each other: Lauda was motivated to keep the young charger behind, and Prost learning from his more experienced colleague.

Alain Prost: “Niki was the old master when I joined the team, already a two-time world champion and a legend, and I was the young guy very eager to learn and Lauda helped me a lot.”

Lauda’s concentration and steadiness, his capacity to work towards a perfect set-up for the race and his relentless points accumulation, taught the young Frenchman a crucial lesson (Prost lost the 1984 title to Lauda by half-a-point) that helped him tremendously in the future.