Success Quote by Alain Prost

Prost is doing something deceptively tricky here: he’s defending merit while quietly indicting the culture that polices it. The opening clause - “I have no problem with the people who work hard” - sounds generous, but it’s also a preemptive firewall. He’s separating “earned” success from the kind that’s inherited, hyped, or politically gamed, then positioning himself squarely in the first category. For a driver whose legacy was often framed against louder, more romantic rivals, that framing matters.

The pivot lands hard: “people are very jealous about success.” Jealousy becomes the explanation for criticism, skepticism, even hostility. It’s a psychologically astute move and a risky one. Astute because it recognizes how audiences love the story of struggle but get itchy when struggle turns into dominance; risky because it can read like dismissal of legitimate critique. Prost isn’t arguing he’s perfect. He’s arguing the courtroom is rigged: the public claims to reward effort, then resents the person who actually cashes the check.

The final line - “I work very hard and they don’t appreciate that” - is less self-pity than a complaint about narrative. Sports fandom often prefers charisma, danger, and myth over professionalism. Prost, the famously cerebral “Professor,” won through precision and restraint, qualities that can look like coldness until you understand how punishing the margins are in elite racing. The subtext is about visibility: effort is real, but it’s not always cinematic, and crowds tend to applaud the spectacle they can recognize, not the discipline they can’t.