Zoue wrote:
why is it selfish? I get the arrogance, although to be fair he was answering a question put to him, so one could argue he was merely being candid. But how is it selfish?
Throughout his career, regardless of team, Alonso has never offered an ounce of respect for his teammates. Never. He has always considered himself the #1 driver within his team, even when he wasn't (McLaren 2007).
Never was this selfishness more evident than in China, 2010, during the double-stack pit stop with Ferrari teammate Massa. Alonso couldn't remotely stomach the idea of pitting 2nd behind Massa. So he divebombed Massa at the pit entrance. Luckily there was no immediate pileup and blockage of pit entrance for the whole field. But this pass was demonstrably selfish... recklessly selfish.
Even with his current foray in WEC -- a team driving sport if ever there was one -- you'll notice he will never mention his fellow teammates in interviews. That would put them on the same stage as himself, and of course, that can't happen.
We've discussed this before. People simply have their opinions, which won't change here.
My recollection of China 2010 was that the experience of the previous race (Melbourne) was still fresh in his mind, where he did the team player thing by sitting behind Massa and not pressuring him at all. However, Massa's pace was so slow it ended up costing Alonso a better result. So in China when he could see the same thing about to happen again, it was like "Uh uh, I'm making my own luck"