​Junior-Senior: Alain and Nicolas Prost

Anyone and everyone in motorsport knows and respects the name Alain Prost. Regarded by many as one of the finest drivers in Formula One history, 'The Professor' won the F1 World Championship a remarkable four times between 1985 and 1993, and his record of 51 wins is bettered only by Michael Schumacher.

So the story goes, when Prost was a promising talent in Formula 3 – he would win both the European F3 and French F3 title with Renault power in 1979 – FIA President Jean-Marie Balestre offered to help his countryman get a ride in Formula Two, to which Prost replied 'it's a Formula One car I'm after!'

That self-belief was not without vindication: Prost scored a point on his F1 debut in 1980, and after switching to Renault the following season went on to win nine times in three years, only losing the 1983 title by two points. Following three titles at McLaren and the rivalry of all rivalries with Ayrton Senna, Prost went out on a high with a dominant fourth world title in 1993, driving the formidable Adrian Newey-designed Williams-Renault FW15C.

Call that the prologue, because now the Prost-Renault story has a new chapter in Alejandro Agag's visionary FIA Formula E championship – and he isn't the only Prost on the scene. Alain is co-owner of the Renault e.dams squad, which won four races and the inaugural Teams' championship with his son Nicolas and ex-F1 driver Sebastien Buemi.

Buemi blitzed the timesheets in pre-season testing and was fully expected to lead e.dams' charge, yet it was Prost who surprised everybody by taking a committed pole at the first race in Beijing, before repeating the trick next time out in Putrajaya. 34-year-old Prost came into the season as something of an unknown quantity, despite back-to-back wins in America's Petit Le Mans race. But while his CV doesn't necessarily do him justice, Prost feels right at home on the tight and twisty street circuits that make up the Formula E calendar and has a strong technical acumen that endears him to the engineers – remind you of anybody?

There were a few scrapes, most notably with Nick Heidfeld at the final corner in Beijing, but make no mistake, Prost the younger was fully deserving of his place on the grid. In Miami he delivered his first win in fine style, the decisive move on Daniel Abt coming on the penultimate lap, all while holding off the aptly-named local hero, Scott Speed.

If Nico felt the pressure of working under his illustrious father, it didn't show. Prost even led the championship at the halfway stage before Nelson Piquet Jr. and Buemi came to the fore in the title fight, doing his reputation no harm at all. Current E editor Ross Ringham attended every round of Formula E's inaugural season, and feels Alain's ambassadorial role suited all involved.

"Alain was quite keen to stress that he doesn't get involved too much with the drivers – his role is more to do with sponsorship, liaising with Renault and that kind of thing," says Ringham. "It's not really to do with running the team, how the drivers work and how the engineers work – that's more [e.dams owner] Jean-Paul Driot's job. You'll see them having a chat now and again, but it's not like he's going in there and giving Nico a talk every time he gets in the car. He's an adult, he's got his own career and he just lets him get on with it. It's a very professional relationship from what I can see.

"It's a great setup. They clearly benefitted from having Prost's past experience and his intelligence – Alain is a great asset to have in terms of being able to talk through strategies and approaches to things – without it impacting on how the team runs, and the proof is in the pudding when you look at the results they got. I don't think there's any favouritism or pressure, he's there as an impartial resource and I think that's how the team uses him."

That's very much a view with tallies with the man himself.

"Working with my son is nice on one side, and difficult on the other," Prost Snr told Current E after Beijing last year. "It's not like he's 15 years old and I'm still driving. He's a proper driver and he's recognised as such today. I don't talk about the driving. I put myself in a different position in the team – I look after the politics, the organisation, the marketing. I only comment if I see something really strange. I don't want to interfere."

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"Apart from those early press conferences, for the most part Alain was a background figure at the races," continues Ringham. "He didn't avoid questions if people wanted to talk to him, but he didn't seek out the limelight either, and as the series went on, Nico came more and more into the spotlight. Beijing definitely helped in that respect – pole and what could have been a win in the first race showed he obviously had speed and was comfortable with the car.

"Within that team Nico was not the same star billing as Buemi, who had his F1 experience, but he turned out to be very quick and surprised a few people in the process. Pole in Beijing was one thing, but after the crash and the disappointment he soon got over that and stuck it on pole for the next race. Perhaps he took a few more risks to get that pole, which isn't something you'd necessarily associate with a Prost, but that's the way you have to be on a street circuit when you're using the same technology as everybody else. The season didn't quite pan out the way he wanted and it fell a bit flat towards the end, but he was one of only seven winners in the first season, which is an impressive achievement in itself."

Whether the Prost-Prost axis can continue to reap fruit in season two will depend largely on how Renault's new powertrain progresses. Early indications during testing were positive, with e.dams regularly troubling the frontrunners in both wet and dry conditions. Patience and steely determination will be required as performance and durability are married together, but that shouldn't pose too much of a problem. After all, peering through the visor, the eyes staring back are unmistakably those of a Prost.