“At the end of your life, it’s friendships, emotions and thoughts that you take with you, rather than what’s in your bank account.”

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.

The bottom line is what we do might not be the safest so there is always some risk but we are ready to take that into account because we love racing and we love motor sports and it is dangerous.

At least 50 times. I’ve jumped off a building, jumped off a cliff in a car. I’ve been in bedrooms when women came in with knives and guns.

Black culture is something I don’t relate to much at all.

I love being at home and cooking and baking.

I love being on stage, I love being able to tell a story, I love the fact that the audience listens and laughs at it. It makes me happy, and it’s what I live for.

At times it seems we require more grace to lose our wealth than to lose our life!

At the end of the day, I want to be part of the same conversation as Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.

I don’t eat vegetables. I eat potatoes and green beans, and that’s it.

People who win go outside of that box. It’s very simple when you look at it.