Nico Prost

Early life

Born in Saint-Chamond, Loire, and despite being the oldest son of four-time Formula One World Drivers' champion Alain Prost and his wife Anne-Marie, he started his career at the late age of 22 in Formula Campus. He was born two days after his father had competed in the 1981 Austrian Grand Prix. Like his father, Prost is a golfer, and has won numerous tournaments during his tenure at Columbia University in New York.

Career

Formula Three

In 2006, Prost joined Racing Engineering to contest in the Spanish Formula Three Championship. He won one race and had six podiums, which earned him fourth place in the championship as well as the best rookie title.

In 2007, Prost finished third in the Spanish Formula Three Championship with two wins, one pole and seven podiums.

Euro Formula 3000

In 2008, Prost joined Bull Racing and won the Euroseries 3000 championship in his first year with one win, two poles and seven podiums.

A1 Grand Prix

For A1 GP season 3 (2007–2008), Prost was the rookie driver for Team France.

For A1 GP season 4 (2008–2009), Prost was still the rookie driver and topped every single rookie sessions. He was promoted to racing driver for the end of the season and showed that he had the pace to fight on top. The team issued in a statement at the end of the seasons that he should be driving the entire 2009–2010 season.

Sports car racing

24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2007, Prost competed with Team Oreca in a Saleen S7-R with Laurent Groppi and Jean-Philippe Belloc and finished fifth in his category.

In 2009, Prost raced for the first time in the LMP1 category, with Speedy Racing Team Sebah. He drove a great race, especially on Sunday morning with a stunning quadruple stint which moved the car from eighth to fifth. Unfortunately, a gearbox problem later dropped the car to 14th.

After a difficult year in 2010, where he nonetheless drove the fastest lap of rebellion cars, Prost had a great race in 2011. Prost and his teammates Jani and Bleekemolen finished sixth and first in the unofficial petrol class.

In the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, Prost and the Rebellion Racing Team got the fourth place in the LM-P1 class along with his co-drivers Neel Jani and Nick Heidfeld, their Lola B12/60 Coupe Toyota covered a total of 367 laps (3,108.123 miles), in the Circuit de la Sarthe. Prost drove the last stage of the competition.

Le Mans Series

In 2009, Prost participated in the European Le Mans Series for Speedy Racing Team Sebah alongside Marcel Fässler and Andrea Belicchi. The trio finished 5th in the championship. Since 2010, he is racing in the European Le Mans Series for Rebellion Racing alongside Swiss racing driver Neel Jani.

FIA World Endurance Championship

In 2012 and 2013, Prost competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Rebellion Racing in a LMP1-class Lola B12/60 Toyota. With his mate Neel Jani, they won nine races in these two years in the LMP1 privateer category. He will race the new Rebellion R-One in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season. Prost has won the first four races of 2014 in the LMP1-L Category and has already clinched the title in the category.

American Le Mans Series

Prost clinched back to back victories at Petit Le Mans in 2012 and 2013. He also finished third in the Sebring 12 Hours in 2013.

Andros Trophy

During the 2009–2010 winter, Prost participated to the famous Andros Trophy ice racing series in the electrical car category. He clinched the championship with five poles, six wins, and eighteen podiums out of 21 races. He successfully defended his title during the 2010–2011 winter.

In 2011–2012, Prost joined his dad in the works Dacia team and claimed the rookie title in the main series.

Formula One

In 2010, Prost drove a Renault F1 for the first time in Magny-Cours and impressed the team, beating his daily opponent by more than two seconds.

In 2011, Prost joined the gravity management structure and remained a driver for Lotus Renault F1. He drove some test sessions and straight line tests for the team, as well as some commercial roadshows.

In 2012, Prost remained a part of the Lotus Renault program and on 4 October 2012 it was announced that he would be testing with Lotus Renault Formula One during the young driver test at Abu Dhabi.

In 2013, Prost was still test and development driver for Lotus. He drove the rookie test in Silverstone where he posted the absolute fastest lap among the rookies and was only three tenths behind Vettel in the Red Bull.

In 2014, Prost remained test and development driver for Lotus.

Formula E

On 30 June 2014, Prost signed up for the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship with the team e.dams Renault. At the first race in Beijing, Prost became the first man to achieve a pole position in Formula E. He led the race until the last lap in the last corner where he was involved in a heavy crash with Nick Heidfeld. Prost turned into Heidfeld's car when he was being challenged into the last corner, lunging Heidfeld's car into a barrier. He later apologised for the incident. He was subsequently given a ten place grid penalty for the following race in Malaysia. In the second race in Putrajaya, Malaysia, he took pole position again but was given a ten place grid penalty carried from the previous race. He took his first win in Miami, despite a late challenge from Scott Speed. He would end up finishing the season in sixth place in the standings. The following season would be the highlight of his Formula E career, as he had finished third in the final standings of the 2015-16 Formula E championship.

Racing record

Career summary

† As Prost was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

• Season still in progress.--

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Le Mans Series results

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

• Season still in progress.--

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

• Season still in progress.--

References

References

1. (1 December 2008). "Nicolas Prost eyes F1". SuperSport.
2. "LeMans TV Live". Live.lemans-tv.com.
3. [http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/10/13867.html Nicolas Prost to test for Lotus in Abu Dhabi]
4. (30 June 2014). "Buemi, Prost confirmed as e.dams drivers". JHED Media BV.
5. (14 September 2014). "Nicolas Prost accepts fault for crash with Nick Heidfeld". [[BBC]].
6. (13 September 2014). "Prost gets grid penalty for Heidfeld crash". [[Haymarket Media Group.