Alain Prost in .NET

Encoder Code39 in .NET Alain Prost

Alain Prost s most recent career in Formula One may have been clouded by the financial failure of his own Grand Prix team, but that takes nothing away from the fact that he was undoubtedly one of the very best drivers in history and probably the very best of the 1980s One of Prost s biggest attributes was not his outstanding natural speed in qualifying, but his ability to think tactically during races, a skill that earned him the nickname The Professor Prost would start the events very slowly, to look after his tyres, fuel load, and brakes Then towards the end, he would charge his way through the field and invariably grab the victory in the closing stages Prost s Formula One debut came in 1980 with the McLaren team, with whom he would achieve great success many years later At the time, however, McLaren was going through a lean patch, and Prost only managed to score five points that season The poor return on his efforts led to the Frenchman looking for a drive elsewhere, and he switched to his national team, Renault The driver and outfit appeared to gel immediately, and Prost scored his maiden victory at the 1981 French Grand Prix By 1983, it appeared that Prost and his team were well on their way to the World Championship, but somehow rival Brabham managed to claw back the deficit and Nelson Piquet triumphed The situation led to an acrimonious split, and Prost returned to McLaren Back at McLaren, Prost was lined up alongside Niki Lauda, who had returned to the sport after retiring a few years earlier The pair won 12 races out of 15 during the course of the season, but it was Lauda who took the title by just half a point at the end of the season

Prost finally clinched his first World Championship in 1985 and then added another the following season, despite a three-way championship showdown in the final race of the season in Australia Prost then had a fallow few years before hitting back in 1989 after fighting off an ultra-strong challenge from team-mate Ayrton Senna By the early 1990s, Prost could do little to stop the might of Williams-Renault, and he took a sabbatical in 1992, before returning in 1993 with Williams to grab his fourth World Championship title and then hanging up his helmet for good

If Michael Schumacher had a favourite song, you could imagine that it would be Simply the Best by Tina Turner The German ace set new standards when he burst onto the Formula One scene at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix His race that day for Jordan may have only lasted two corners, but he had done enough to get snapped up by the Benetton team on a long-term contract in time for the next race As Schumacher found more and more success with Benetton, including World Championship titles in 1994 and 1995, other racers became aware of the secret of his success: complete devotion to the job and a fanatical obsession with fitness Many times, Schumacher s rivals marvelled that he could climb out of the car at the end of a tough Grand Prix without a bead of sweat on his forehead Schumacher s two titles with Benetton meant he was hot property on the drivers market, and Ferrari eventually lured him to its team in 1996, as it bid to win the World Drivers Championship for the first time since 1979 Schumacher came close several times, including losing out after a controversial crash with Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix, before eventually clinching the title for the Italian giants in 2000 Since then Schumacher has won the title in 2001 and 2002 to become only the second man in history, after Juan-Manuel Fangio, to win five world titles Having recently committed himself to Ferrari until 2006 it is likely that he will break even more records before he hangs up his helmet