Bernie Ecclestone has named Alain Prost as the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time.

Having built the sport over several decades, and with his motor racing involvement stretching all the way back to the late 1940s, the 85-year-old's opinion carries a great deal of weight.

"It's hard to say," Marca quotes the Briton as saying when asked to nominate the greatest driver, "but if I had to choose one over the years, I would probably say Prost.

"He was better than [Michael] Schumacher or [Ayrton] Senna. Michael had a lot of help from the team or teammates, and at some points it was the same with Senna.

"But Prost never had such privileges. He always had competitors even within his own team."

While Ecclestone named Prost the best, he said that Jochen Rindt was his personal favourite.