Alain Prost Quotations

I have always had this mentality because I hated to break anything on the car.

I have no problem with the people who work hard to get success. But I think people are very jealous about success. I work very hard and they don't appreciate that.

It's like when people talk about driving F1 cars in the rain. I have absolutely no problem with it.

So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport its the longterm. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race.

People don't understand that it was maybe my biggest pleasure to drive an F1 car when it's wet.

You were not in control You had no visibility: maybe there was a car in front of you, maybe not.

I think maybe the English don't want to try something and look stupid, because they are a bit reserved.

I always work the same way, starting from the beginning of the weekend, so I know at the beginning of the race, from all that I have analysed during the practice, whether I will win the race or not.

The people who criticise you will not be the ones taking care of your legs when you are in your wheelchair. People who never drove a car in these conditions, they just don't know.

I'm brave to say that I won't take this sort of risk.

One of my biggest problems this season was with the clutch at the start of the race. I hate to risk the car.

It's not too good to have this attitude in F1. It could be a disadvantage.

Maybe I am not French, maybe I am from nowhere.

It's always better to speak the language of the team. Not only for the direct contact with everyone - sometimes it also helps you to understand the mentality of the people in the team a bit better.

Sometimes I think I could have got some better results if I had a different mentality; if I could have pushed hard and attacked. But then I would have had a good chance of making a mistake.

You want to have fun but you also want to work well. Sometimes I was quite happy at Ferrari, because we would have fun, but then they could not stop having fun and go back to the real work.

I don't like to go over curbs, because I don't want to be hard on the car.

A German team could be quite good. But maybe they are a little bit too convinced that they are the best.

I was very interested in that. It is very important to have confidence as well as to build up experience.

In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place.

That is an important part of my success. Another big part of my success is that I hated not to finish a race.

When you win a race like this the feeling is very, very good.

You can't always have the best team. It's always a compromise.

Without going to what I think is my limit. I always say that my ideal is to get pole with the minimum effort, and to win the race at the slowest speed possible.

I have had some problems because the French don't like people to have success, they don't like the number one.

Some Italians are geniuses, but you have to find a balance.

I like the mentality of the Americans. It's like when you talk about money.

I remember in the first part of the race I was sixth and I could have gone quicker, but I had to go slow. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done.

When I test I never go right to the limit. Only because when you are below the limit you can go at the same speed all day, and that's the only way you can be absolutely sure about what you are testing.

Three times before 1985, I just missed the title, so winning was a relief.

I was looking at the history of the sport and I couldn't understand why there have been so many good South American drivers, especially Brazilians.

When you win a race like this the feeling is very, very good. There have been times when I have been flat-out to finish sixth, but you can't see that from the outside. In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that's motor racing. So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport is the long term. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race.

When I drove for British teams... they called me The Tadpole because I was too small to be a frog.

Do you know, why I really love my helmet that much? Because it makes me 15 centimetres taller!

Does it scare me, driving into nothing at 300kph? - Of course it does - I'm not an idiot...

When I look fast, I'm not smooth and I am going slowly. And when I look slow, I am smooth and going fast.

Maybe you could say that I had those cars because I was good and people knew me, and knew that within the team I can get the very best from everyone.

I always wanted to feel that I had enough knowledge and experience of the car that I could change its set-up on the grid and still win the race.

I think it's the English in general. All the English people I know don't want to make the effort to speak another language. Maybe they are shy too.

The real problem is that it (F1) is in a permanent state of conflict,

Ayrton has this problem - he thinks that he can't kill himself.

For him it is just the beginning. He has his whole career still ahead and (winning the title so early) will make him stronger.

I rely on Prost to negotiate the first corner and the rest of it.

If I see some guy and maybe he's invented something for example, to put on your bread and made millions of dollars from it, I admire him.

You can't think you are going to win all the races by being quicker, because it's not possible. So you need to find another way.