Is Alonso arrogant?

[raikk]

Hi everybody,
I am wondering what's your take on Alonso's behaviour, lately. He has been showing off for a while, but I thought that it was OK, since he has won the championship twice in a row, the youngest driver ever to win, etc., etc., etc. and I have been ok with it. However, now he is starting to get on my nerves, especially after being interviewed today by a bunch of journalists, Spanish or not. I don't know if anyone on this panel speaks Spanish but if you do take a look at what Marca.com or As.com say about Alonso. There is no article in which the journalists don't feel obligated to mention that Alonso has won the worldchampioship twice. They might be taliking about Alonso, eating habits or whatever. On top of that, he is not gracious enough to Renault either. Check out what he says to Ted, when Ted's asking Alonso if he is missing Renault (http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?T...&PO_ID=38256):

Q: Is there anything you will miss about Renault?
FA: I don’t know. At the moment I am not missing anything – I am really happy and have everything I want.

How ungrateful is that. Is he forgetting how kind was Renault to him allowing him to test a McLaren while under contract with the French team?
Or,"but Alonso has no doubts that the Woking squad can provide him with the sort of race-winning machine that allowed him to claim back-to-back world titles at Renault"
(http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=38249).
Has no doubts? Yarno, Kimi, Massa, Fisichella and so on don't talk like that. They are more cautious about their statements. I can't believe this guy. He is talking about McLaren (and the Spanish press as well) like they are this unstopbeble winning machine that keeps in winning one championship after the other. Boy I can't wait to see the first time his car blows up. He'll be crying and whine and accuse everybody for sabotaging his car, as he did with Renault when things were going down the hill for him. What a brat!!

If I wrote an article about how many times I scratched my arse I'd be considered a spamer lol... The point is.... Ya so what? It;s not like he called Flavio or Renault any names..

[wmcot]

Of Course Alonso is arrogant....

All F1 drivers are...

I agree, but I'd expand it to say that all major sports personalities are arrogant to some degree (with a few exceptions.) Let's hope that as he matures, his arrogance will be tempered.

[tsarcasm]

I agree, but I'd expand it to say that all major sports personalities are arrogant to some degree (with a few exceptions.) Let's hope that as he matures, his arrogance will be tempered.

probably so, (unlike his new boss 'uncle-grumpy-ron')

[raphael123]

I don't think he comes across as an arrogant guy. Confident, but not arrogant. And it's in the article where it mentions the fact he is a 2 WDC, not him. How can you blame him for that?
As for being ungrateful, I think he told them all thank you, and wished them the best for the future after the Brazilian GP which we all heard on the radio.
I don't think going to a new team, and saying 'I'm going to miss how.. and..the way they did at Renault' would make a great impression on a new team!
And what kind of World Champion would move to a Top 3 team, and claim they don't think they will win the title. A team like McLaren should be aiming to win the title every year with the resources and drivers they have. To say 'I'm only aiming for 2nd or 3rd' would be ridiculous from the 2 guy who has won the last 2 titles!

I think some people read too much into it, just to diss the guy because he's the best there is at the moment. The best will always get critizised.

[fly_ac]

I don't think he comes across as an arrogant guy. Confident, but not arrogant. ..................

Although I don't like Alonso I have to somehow agree with this.
There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence and however I would like to believe that Alonso is arrogant, I think he is more "arrogantly-confident".

I think in any sport one need to have confidence in one's abilities and equipment, and to stay ahead of the competition you need to have a degree of arrogance as well.

...................The best will always get critizised.

Like Schumacher who will always be criticised for this. It was said at times that Schumacher was arrogant,..........WRONG,.........CONFIDENT.

[Donney]

He is confident.

But what do you expect him to say I missed Renault so much that I want the Mc painted blue? He is in a new team so the past is gone, he has to look into the future.

It's OK that you don't like him but why don't you wait until something happens?

[fly_ac]

It's OK that you don't like him but why don't you wait until something happens?

OOooooh believe me I am WAITING. for something to happen.

[jas123f1]

Yes, a bit arrogant he is , obviously .
It really looks like that Alonso has cleared his mind of everything what Renault is.. New team, new clothes, new car (only the number is the same as last year), new team mate (which is not at all dangerous for him - rather on the contrary – who will be helping him to remain as number one at least 2007). But that way it is - he is in a god team and believes in the future and in some way it’s included in his job to speak like that - only good things of the team. McLaren is a team which is “the best “ in to the last GP. Doesn’t matter how well its going on the track. When the car doesn’t work – Ron explains that it’s only temporary and the team is back on the top soon. We will see if that “soon“ is coming with Alonso – if not there are not any excuses left to Ron any more..
They was showing Alonso on TV today (CNN) there he was telling to us how happy he is to be at McLaren - in his mind the best team, in where any driver should like to be. ( I’m not quite sure if Kimi should agreed with him ….

[jens]

Wrong, Jarno's not :

Well, I have to agree to you to some degree. But... Jarno has of course very high opinion of himself like other drivers and he might be even overconfident as I've seen from several articles. I think it was in September, when he told that he is as good as Alonso and why shouldn't he become champion as 'Nando has managed it...

Agree with those, who say that a top sportsman has to be arrogant to some degree to be successful. The main difference is that how often are they talking about it to media and what's their temperament level.

[pino]

Well, I have to agree to you to some degree. But... Jarno has of course very high opinion of himself like other drivers and he might be even overconfident as I've seen from several articles. I think it was in September, when he told that he is as good as Alonso and why shouldn't he become champion as 'Nando has managed it...

That's right but You forgot to mention that Jarno said that after visiting his winery in Italy :