Damon Hill had to ‘tell off’ Alain Prost for speaking French to engineers at Williams

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Damon Hill told the story of his initial friction with Alain Prost over how he handled his conversations with engineers when he joined Williams.

Williams worked with Renault for their engines from 1989 to 1997. And when Prost joined Williams in 1993, he chose to converse with the Renault engineers entirely in French.

For an English team like Williams, this was bound to be a matter of frustration, given that a conversation in a different language can make things difficult for them to try to understand what needs to be worked on.

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Prost is in the greatest of all time conversations, but this decision is one of the reasons he was considered a bit of a troublemaker among teams.

And given the issues Damon Hill had with Prost as a teammate, it’s unsurprising that he was the one to rein him in at Williams.

READ MORE: Formula 1 fans choose their Mount Rushmore of McLaren drivers with Lewis Hamilton omitted

Damon Hill reveals he used to ‘tell off’ Alain Prost for his communication with Renault

Speaking on the Stay On Track podcast, Damon Hill told the story of him admonishing Alain Prost for speaking to Renault engineers in French when he first joined Williams.

While Hill was sympathetic to the language barrier for Prost, he was steadfast in his demand that Prost speaks to the team in English only.

“When I was racing with Alain Prost, who came to race with Williams, but of course, we had Renault engines. He would speak to the Renault engineers in French.

“And you had to tell him off. ‘Sorry, Alain. English only!’ Can you imagine how difficult that would be to speak to another French person?

“It’s going to be easier if you speak French. But he had to find the English words. Poor chap.”

READ MORE: Isack Hadjar reveals why he would prefer to be teammates with Ayrton Senna over ‘legend’ Alain Prost

Alain Prost’s iconic Ferrari 642 is heading to auction!

But if you could pick just one of the Frenchman's cars to own, which one would it be? 🤔

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Alain Prost’s only season at Williams didn’t get hindered by language barrier

Hill’s frustration with Prost at the beginning of their time together at Williams didn’t put a damper on the French driver’s time with the team.

Even though Prost spent just one season with Williams, it proved to be an incredibly successful one, as he went on to win the world championship and helped the team to win the constructors’ championship.

This would be his final season in Formula 1, as Prost would retire after winning with Williams, ending his career as a four-time world champion.

Prost’s success with Williams set the standard for drivers like Carlos Sainz, who want to win the title with Williams in the near future.