I kind of woke up and realized that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are

You do something very well or not at all.

Because I believe in God and have faith in God, it doesn’t mean I am immortal

The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile

If I am going to live, I want to live fully. Very intensely, because I am an intense person

I believe that we start to see our true personalities when we go through the most difficult moments

Everything that I’ve gotten out of life was obtained through dedication and a tremendous desire to achieve my goals…a great desire for victory, meaning victory in life, not as a driver

I have no idols. I respect hard work, dedication and competence”

We are all looking for emotions, it’s only a question of finding the way to experience them.

Because in a split second, it’s gone.

Money is a strange business. People who haven’t got it aim it strongly. People who have are full of troubles.

There are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning

It’s going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I’ll risk saying that we’ll be lucky if something really serious doesn’t happen.

I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win

It shows how much you can touch people, and as much as you can try to give those people somehow it is nothing compared to what they live in their own mind, in their dreams, for you

The main thing is to be yourself.

In many ways we are a dream for people, not a reality

You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood

Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car

When a man holds you round the throat, I don’t think he has come to apologize

If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go

It was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel but the whole circuit was a tunnel.

Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than others.

There are no small accidents on this circuit.

I believe if you are doing something like competing, like motor racing, you either do well or forget it

These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do.

And suddenly I realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.

The weak goes nowhere

Women – always in trouble with them, but can’t live without them.

Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose

You either commit yourself as a professional racing driver that’s designed to win races or you come second or you come third or fifth and am not design to come third, fourth or fifth, I race to win

Just because I believe in God, just because I have faith in God, it doesn’t mean that I’m immune. It doesn’t mean that I’m immortal

When you are fitted in a racing car and you race to win, second or third place is not enough.

When you’re not happy, you need to be strong to change, resisting the temptation of turning back.

The main thing is to be yourself

I cannot live on an island of prosperity when I’m surrounded by a sea of misery.

On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, ‘Okay, this is the limit’. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further

I would never want to live partially, suffering from illness or injury

I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.

Racing, competing, it’s in my blood. It’s part of me, it’s part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else

The past is just data. I only see the future.

The danger sensation is exciting. The challenge is to find new dangers.

Nothing can separate me from the love of God

And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, we are competing to win

You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing

I started racing go karts. And I love karts. It’s the most breath-taking sport in the world

I was already on pole, then by half a second and then one second and I just kept going.

Whoever you are, no matter what social position you have, rich or poor, always show great strength and determination

I am as scared as anyone of getting hurt, especially driving a Formula One car.

You commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have, everything, absolutely everything

Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that

Fear is exciting for me.