Prost to Senna fans: 'Why do you have to hate me?'
F1 News
Alain Prost didn't always have it easy. In fact, the four-time world champions reveals that during the first years of his F1 career he was forced to leave France after receiving death threats and a burned car following a controversial Grand Prix in 1982.
Prior to that, Prost had taken a political side which was not in line with what several of his countryman felt was right, which saw the media come after the world champion, as he stated in an interview with Canal+. "That was one thing, but then there was the incident with René Arnoux at the 1982 French Grand Prix, where there was a team order that he didn't respect," said Prost who is rumoured to have instigated the imposition of the orders at Renault prior to the race.
"But I ended up looking like the bastard, and that, that phenomenon of injustice, had two different cases of cheating, one by the public and one by the media, it completely suffocated me," reveals Prost.
It was then, that the former Williams driver felt the need to leave his homeland to find refuge elsewhere.
Death threats and a burnt car
"That's when I decided to leave France. In fact, I received some messages...," he continued. "A burnt car, death threats and hate messages on my phone before every race weekend. I've had my car spat on in the street, that happened to me once or twice and it's really strange. At that time, I learned the French mentality of 50:50."
"There are people who admire you and think what you do is brilliant, and then others who are a mix of envy and hate. Why is that? I don't know, but in this case, it really bothered me." However, the four-time world champion has also been on the receiving end of 'hatred' from the fans of his fierce Brazilian rival, Ayrton Senna.
"Why do people hate you? When the Ayrton [Senna] thing happened, I often said this to people, 'I understand that you are an Ayrton fan, but that doesn't mean you have to hate me or vice versa'," concluded a conflicted Prost.