“Giving yourself threads doesn’t mean you don’t believe in yourself in my opinion.”

I’m really happy, and beating Marc [Marquez] at the very last chicane gives me an extra boost.

The most important thing is to have a good relationship with the bike you have to understand what she wants. I think of a motorcycle as a woman, and I know that sounds silly, but it’s true.

How do Ferrari know what I’m doing next year when I don’t know what I’m doing next week?

I feel 100% a Yamaha rider in my heart. I had a long career and raced with several factory bikes, but the highlight of my career is undoubtedly with Yamaha.

I am able to ride the bike and think clearly about strategy and tyres. I also have positive thinking. I am very constructively critical.

I have so much respect for my opponents; many of them watched the races as little children and were supporting me!

If I test the car for a year I can be quite competitive the next season.

In my opinion we are at the limit now, and 17 races is really too much. With all the testing that we do now, it means we’re always on the bike and it’s quite difficult.

You look at Moto3, the races are very exciting. Moto2 is fantastic, and then MotoGP is boring.

The great fights with your strongest rivals are always the biggest motivation. When you win easily it’s not the same taste.

Maybe if Graziano make another work or another sport I wouldn’t have had this passion to be a rider.

To win the Championship in the first year will be hard. We need time to become competitive and win races.

My approach to the races hasn’t changed in my 20-year career. If I have the chance to attack and to pass, I do it, trying to get the best possible result.

I have won on Honda and Yamaha so maybe it is interesting to win with a third team, Ducati, who are Italian.

I’m lucky because I don’t feel too much pressure – it’s only in the last hour before the race, and even then it’s good, positive pressure.

In 2009, I didn’t like that Yamaha signed such a young and competitive teammate [Jorge Lorenzo]. But now everything is different. We are more mature. Everyone knows his role and position. Things are clear.

I believe that time destroys everything. You can take one beautiful apple, red. After a while, it becomes shrivelled and full of worms, just like what happens to us

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing; I like what I’ve been doing. I believe in what I’ve done in the past; I hope my kid enjoys the movies I’ve made and enjoys some of the movies in the future.

I believe in the limitlessness of humans. We’re capable of incredible things. At times, that realization is frightening.

I tried to bang down a lot of doors but Virgin were the only label who believed in what I was doing. I ended up with the label that understood what I was trying to do.

I’m not a sexist. I believe if a man can to go work all his life, a woman can. Who am I to say, ‘Don’t do that because you’re a girl?’

I believe that, in our industry, overexposure tends to create problems for artists, so fortunately, I have been exposed but not overexposed.

There can be miracles when you believe.

God likes His people to believe that there is nothing too hard for Him…We are all the time limiting God’s power by our own ideas. Let us get our eyes off one another and fix them upon God. There is nothing to hard for Him.