“I think maybe the English don’t want to try something and look stupid, because they are a bit reserved.”

So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport its the longterm. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race.

When I test I never go right to the limit. Only because when you are below the limit you can go at the same speed all day, and that’s the only way you can be absolutely sure about what you are testing.

Do you know, why I really love my helmet that much? Because it makes me 15 centimetres taller!

So I know at the beginning of the race, from all that I have analysed during the practice, whether I will win the race or not.

Sometimes it also helps you to understand the mentality of the people in the team a bit better.

I like the mentality of the Americans. It’s like when you talk about money.

I have always had this mentality because I hated to break anything on the car.

That is an important part of my success. Another big part of my success is that I hated not to finish a race.

I always work the same way, starting from the beginning of the weekend.

Maybe I am not French, maybe I am from nowhere.

In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place.

When I drove for British teams… they called me The Tadpole because I was too small to be a frog.

In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that’s motor racing.

One of my biggest problems this season was with the clutch at the start of the race. I hate to risk the car.

When you win a race like this the feeling is very, very good. There have been times when I have been flat-out to finish sixth, but you can’t see that from the outside.

The people who criticise you will not be the ones taking care of your legs when you are in your wheelchair.

People want a certain amount of each. It’s just widening the market a little bit.

Somebody said that I’m a bit like a sponge, grabbing things here and there, soaking stuff up. [As a director] you have to be, really.

You’re always looking to make it a bit fresh.

I lived in San Jose for a little bit, and one of my neighbors was Vietnamese and was teasing me.

Today it’s a little bit more complicated.

I think of myself of as a little bit of hack, and think like that, and I think of her [Mia Michaels] as an artist.

There’s a little bit of magic in every box!

I’ve never had a treehouse because I live in New York City.