Alain Prost, French sports legend and four-time Formula 1 world champion, explains why he decided to leave France in the 1980s, fed up with the hostility and attacks against him.
He was not yet a Formula 1 legend, but a driver establishing himself among the best. At the beginning of the 1980s, however, Alain Prost decided to leave France to settle in Switzerland in order to escape the hostility of part of the French population towards him. On the occasion of the release of the documentary “Prost” on Canal+, the quadruple world champion revealed the reasons in several interviews.
His position on the election of Mitterrand and the 1982 French GP as triggers
“It came, I think, in two stages,” he said in the show Clique on Canal+. “In 1981, when there was the election of François Mitterrand, I took political positions, perhaps I should not have, but in the end, sincerely, I said nothing about exceptional (…) Second event is 1982, at the French Grand Prix, the incident with René Arnoux. There is a team instruction that he does not respect, but in the end, it is. it's me who looks like a bastard.”
“It was at that moment, a few weeks later, that I decided to leave France, because there, I really had messages, a burned car, messages of death,” he continues. “I was spat on in the street, in the car. It happened to me once or twice, it's very strange. That's where I discovered the 50/50 of this somewhat French mentality , which means that you have people who adore you, they think it's great what you do and then others who are a mixture of jealousy and hatred. Why?
He denies tax exile in Switzerland
He further detailed his explanations on the set of C à Vous on France 5. “In 1981, when there was the election of Mitterrand, I gave my opinion, like a citizen and it didn't go down very well. “, he repeats. “At the time, I was at Renault which was the national management company (the national management of Renault factories was 100% state property, Editor's note). In 1982, it was the French Grand Prix. At the time, the reliability of the cars was not the best and the team – not me – had decided that René Arnoux, my teammate, would have a little more power to play the hare. Which worked very well since the. two Williams have abandoned, we found ourselves one and two And in this case, I had to recover the victory since I was the best placed in the world championship He did not accept, he won the race – sort of. 'of injustice' – but I'm the one who comes across as the bad one.”
He laughs with an anecdote upon his return from the race. “On my way back to Saint-Chamond, I stopped at a gas station and the guy (the pump attendant) took me for René Arnoux and said to me: 'well done for today because that idiot Prost…' I I showed my Elf card with my name on it, and it was symbolically the most expensive fill-up I have to do.”
He then left France for Switzerland, after first considering settling in England. “I signed with McCormack, the big sports agency at the time and I said: 'the only thing I want is to leave France'. They decided to put me in England, which was very good because that I told myself that I would drive for English teams in the future (which it was with McLaren and Williams I made my move, I paid my tax clearance but the day before leaving, he (his agent) said to me: 'I have an opportunity to go to Switzerland but you have to create one or two jobs and have some money, something symbolic. I wanted to start an advertising agency with a friend. The next day, I waited all day to get my visa, I stayed there for three weeks. 'hotel.”
By revealing this unexpected and hasty side of this move, Alain Prost intends to brush aside the idea of a tax exile. “Compared to the legend about the tax problem… I left with the equivalent of 30,000 euros,” he adds. I had still done three years of Formula 1 and five victories. At the time, the relationship with money was very far from what one might think. We were all passionate, the only thing we wanted was to win. The passion was around everyone, the drivers, the engineers, the mechanics and even the media. It's still very different today. “
