If I ever have a son, and if he wants to follow in my footsteps in Formula 1, my main responsibility will be to point out some of the negatives.
To understand the intensity of driving an F1 car, you have to be in it.
I’ve spent as much as 30 grand on a watch but it’s not about flaunting my wealth. I don’t have many extravagances but watches are my biggest one. I must have 30 of them now. I’ve been collecting since the age of nine, when I won a black TAG in a karting event.
I don’t purposely speed, but I might go over by five or six miles an hour from time to time. It doesn’t give me a buzz driving on normal roads, because I can’t go fast enough. It’s never going to be anything like an F1 car.
It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, or how many connections, there’s always something you want that’s out of reach.
My time at Honda was amazing. Some of my best times in Formula One, actually. I might not have won races, just one race, but I had a lot of fun.
My father did everything for me. He was awesome.
It is such a special feeling to win a grand prix.
In the car and in front of the camera I tend to be very calm but behind the scenes I can get fired up and passionate, I just don’t see the need to shout my mouth off in public.
For me, triathlons were something that was down to me and my fitness. Now, I really enjoy the pain in the triathlon of chasing someone down. It’s a bit like chasing down Nico Rosberg in the last few laps at Silverstone – it makes you feel alive.
When you’re in a car which can win every race, or fight for a win every race, that is pressure.
A lot of people think Formula One isn’t a sport because everyone drives a car when they go to work in the morning. But we’re pulling up to six G on a corner or during breaking, which is almost like being a fighter pilot. So we have to do a lot of work on our neck muscles.
I like old tunes when I’m driving. They’re fun and uplifting. Billy Ocean, that kind of thing.
I need to develop a car and engineer a car in a position that feels comfortable for me, and I don’t think anyone can do a better job than I can in that position. The problem for me is if I can’t get the car there I do struggle more than some.
I’m world champion, baby!
I can’t eat whatever I want, definitely not. I’m always controlled because I do a lot of fitness and triathlons, not just Formula One, so I always make sure I eat the right things.
I keep my weight low, although you need to be able to move your weight around the race car to change the balance. I’m 6ft and I’m 70kg so I haven’t much fat on me.
If someone was making a movie about F1 in the last six months, they wouldn’t need to add a Hollywood ending. If they do make that movie, it’s got to be ‘The Curious Case Of ,’ where I’ve lived my life backwards. I’d like Johnny Depp to play me but he wouldn’t be quite right.