Alain Prost would leave F1 completely over reverse grid races

With F1 testing sprint qualifying in 2021, the idea of reverse grid-style races has been mooted as a way to spice up the show.

Speaking on Alpine’s F1 podcast, Prost revealed that he ‘hates’ the idea as he’s too much of a “traditionalist”. 

“I’m very happy about testing things if it’s possible,” Prost said. “But you need to understand why you want to make these decisions, what is the reason for it.

“Formula 1 has to stay sort of traditional, that means the technology and the pinnacle of the automobile sport. We need to understand that the best team has to win because it’s the best, because it’s the spirit and the aim of Formula 1.

“For example the reverse grid, I hate that. I hate that. If they would introduce reverse grid in Formula 1, I think I would quit the sport because I think it’s the worst you can do for the idea of Formula 1. I prefer to have the domination of a team because they have done the best job rather than having that. But I am open. I am very traditionalist.”

While the Frenchman wants F1 to stick to its tradition, he admits he’s accepted changes to the sport in the past which are necessary to move it forward.

“I was not very happy because it’s very difficult to compare to what we had in the past,” he added.

“But on the other side, I remember in ’82 we all finished about five races in the year and reliability was so poor. Now we have a fantastic reliability. So if you have only the first six cars getting points it could happen that some teams never have points so you have to adjust also in a way.”