Death of Alain Delon: From Alain Prost to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, his passion for motorsport

One of the greatest French actors died at the age of 88 on August 18, 2024. Alain Delon, beyond an exceptional filmography, was a great fan of motorsport.

His friendship with Alain Prost

Alain Delon has long been one of the close friends ofAlain Prost. In 1985, the year of his first of four titles in Formula 1, the pilot had organized a birthday party for his 30th birthday to which the actor was invited, in the company of former skier Jean-Claude Killy and Mansour Ojjeh (shareholder of McLaren), among others.

At the height of the fight with the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, Alain Delon did not hesitate to go to Suzuka (Japan) to support his compatriot then in the running for the title at the end of 1990 on behalf of the Team Ferrari. « I came to encourage my friend Alain Prost, which is quite normal because I am a ferrarist and French and I have been very close to Alain for a long time”, declared Alain Delon, who was visiting the Japanese circuit for the first time. The actor was well aware of F1 news because he wanted to live « this penultimate race is decisive for the attribution of the world title”. Rightly so, because at the start of the race, Senna deliberately hit Prost at the first corner and was crowned.

Subsequently, Alain Delon was often invited by Alain Prost when he became team director between 1997 and 2001. It was not uncommon to see him roaming the paddocks, notably at the Monaco Grand Prix, in the company of the " Teacher ".

His passion for Ferrari

Like many actors of the seventh art, Alain Delon was captivated by road Ferraris. The star of “Rocco and His Brothers” has owned numerous Prancing Horse sports cars, such as a red Testarossa, or a sublime 250 GT SWB California Spider. The Italian convertible was sold at auction by Artcurial for the tidy sum of 14,2 million euros on the sidelines of the Rétromobile show in 2015.

A lover of the Maranello firm, Alain Delon strengthened his ties with Ferrari when Jean Todt took charge in the 1990s. The boss of the Reds often invited the actor to the Scuderia stand during the Grands Prix of France and Monaco from the time of supremacy with Michael Schumacher. “I did a lot of circuits around twenty years ago, the actor admitted in 1990 to AFP. I mainly went to France and throughout Europe. But I was a fan of Rally Monte Carlo. »

Starter of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

What do basketball player LeBron James, Brad Pitt and Alain Delon have in common? All three waved the French flag to start an edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For Alain Delon, it was during the 1996 edition, contested under radiant sunshine. The hero of “Samurai” was delighted by this experience, as he reported to the newspaper “West France” : “It’s moving, it’s wonderful, it’s the most beautiful race in the world. » Delon's admiration for the double clock tower in Sarthe was not feigned. In 1980, he had already visited the competition stands with his partner at the time, the actress Mireille Darc.