“You can’t always say what you’d like to say.”

There is no secret, once we go to qualifying, we all seem to enjoy it. Qualifying is all about putting everything that you have and that the car has in one lap. It’s like a rush, I really enjoy that.

It’s fantastic to be invited; I’m so happy. To represent Team Germany together with Michael Schumacher is a great honor.

I don’t care what other people think as long as I am happy.

Generally I don’t care about what people say. I have to be clear with myself.

As a driver, your target is always to be with the most competitive team possible.

You’re traveling all over the world but to be home is something special.

Of course, you always give 100 percent, but at a home race you’re always more motivated, simply because you feel at home.

I have always watched the Race of Champions on TV every year and dreamed about participating one day.

We have reason to feel good, but it’s also a threat to feel too good and I will pay attention that that doesn’t happen.

There are a few things that make me angry. Mostly things not going my way.

I come from an ordinary family – my dad is a carpenter, a roof-maker – and we’ve always loved racing together.

We always kept believing in ourselves and our team and the car.

Qualifying is all about putting everything that you have and that the car has in one lap. It’s like a rush, I really enjoy that.

It’s a tricky place, especially the last sector. I wasn’t happy in practice. I wasn’t happy with the car and I wasn’t happy with myself. But I always thought there was more in the car.

I didn’t know Dan Wheldon, but he was big in motorsport, and then this year I got to know Marco Simoncelli, so our thoughts are with them at the moment.

All these nice people saying I’m going to be world champion won’t make me any faster, you have to believe it yourself.

Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it.

Sometimes all I want is to be a few inches taller so the world does not look like a dense collection of torsos.

You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway?

When people want to be liked for what they did, they should stop.

You have the older generation like Iris Murdoch and Angus Wilson who are not as old as Graham Greene, but still are coming on. I dare say anyone who knew the scene better than I know it could fill it in with a very satisfactory supply of novels.

I don’t know what the definition of pornography is and nobody else does either. Pornography is somebody else’s erotica that you don’t like.

In order to develop love – universal love, cosmic love, whatever you would like to call it one must accept the whole situation of life as it is, both the light and the dark, the good and the bad. One must open oneself to life, communicate with it.

Do I look like I’ve been crying?’ I say. ‘Hmm.’ He leans in close, narrowing his eyes like he’s inspecting my face.