Especially with sports cars, when you have got so many cars on the track with various degrees of competitiveness, then something will happen. It's the nature of racing, the law of averages. If you want to be a front-runner then you are going to have to push very hard, and collisions can happen.

I clipped a Ferrari, hit the gravel trap at a fair old speed, which lifted the car up into the barrier, and then rolled a few times. I had no injuries or anything - I just had to wait for the marshals to right the car before I could get out.

It was not until I started racing for car manufacturers that I found a car I could really get attached to. I am the son of a car dealer, so up until then, cars just came and went.

The main factors in terms of how tiring a season can be are governed by the number of races and the length of time between the first and the last.

I have been waiting to win a world championship since 1985. I've had three cracks at a world title - in karting, I finished third at Le Mans; that hurt because it was very close, but then in Formula One there wasn't really an opportunity to finally crack it, so it's third time lucky.

To be a racing driver it's essential you have very good eyesight, and that's especially relevant at night. Your senses are heightened, you're travelling over 200mph, you need to focus on that 110-metre braking point and you have to have absolute faith and commitment in your driving.

My motto is to do everything absolutely flat out and to the best of your ability.