“I would leave the sport”– Alain Prost threatens to leave F1 if this change is brought into Grand Prix weekends

“I would leave the sport”– Alain Prost warns about leaving Formula 1 if the reverse grid is applied in the sport to make it “entertaining”.

The reverse grid has always been on the cards to make Formula 1 enjoyable, but for Alain Prost, it doesn’t seem to be an exciting idea and threatens to leave F1 if it’s applied.

Prost has also shown its resentments towards several changes applied in the sport over the recent past but claims this to be the final straw, as he believes in the idea of the car’s merit.

“I think it’s good that Formula 1 is trying some things,” he tells the French team’s Prost in the Paddock podcast, “but you have to understand why you want to do this.

“You have to ask yourself why,” he continues. “Formula 1 must remain traditional. We have to understand the best car and the best driver win because they are the best. That’s the whole idea of Formula 1.

“I hate the idea of a reverse starting order,” he admits. “I hate it. If they introduce the reversed grid in Formula 1, I would leave the sport. I think that’s the worst thing you can do for Formula 1.”

“I would rather see a team dominate because they did the best work than a reversed grid. But I am very traditionalist. They also experimented with points for pole position at the time, which I was not happy about.”

The sprint races were the compromise

The reverse grid is broadly not accepted by the majority of stakeholders in F1; thus, the sprint races are claimed to be the compromise by F1 to add some spice into the Grand Prix weekends.

This is also not tolerable to most of the leadership in F1, including Toto Wolff, who recently shared his resentments with the inclusion of these 100-km long races to decide the grid positions for the main race.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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