You just need to be accepted for who you are and be proud of who you are and that is what I'm trying to do.

I always want to be the best at what I do. As a kid, whatever I was doing, if I was playing football or whatever I was applying my energy to at the time, I always wanted to do it to the best of my abilities. And I was always interested in finding out how I could do it better.

Now each race is different every time because it's a different journey to get to it - the difficulties you faced getting the car into that position. I manage myself. I chose my team myself. So there's a huge satisfaction for me.

It is actually quite exciting when you're flying headfirst into a barrier — the initial part, the initial part is actually quite fun, especially when you hit the gravel trap and you get some air, and then you see it coming and you think 'erk — it's gonna hurt!'

I don't feel I need to come and drive the race of Lewis Hamilton's life. I think I've driven pretty well this year and I plan to drive Lewis Hamilton's best this weekend.

We have 21 races in the year and Monaco is the one that you want to win.

I enjoy trying to develop a car and Mercedes are one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world.