The hunger and desire to go racing, however, never leaves your blood but the right opportunity has never really come along - until now that is.

I've always been reasonably fatalistic.

The hunger and desire to go racing, however, never leaves your blood but the right opportunity has never really come along - until now that is.

Everything in Formula 1 has been sterilised now, the whole thing is controlled too much.

Alain will do everything in his power to win, he doesn't like getting beaten by anyone and least of all me.

I consider myself one of a very small handful of drivers in the world that are top drivers. The best one? I don't think anybody can say they're the best one because, from one week to the next, you can be on form or off form a little bit.

Firstly the cars aren't too complicated. They have no traction control, for example, which means you can spin if you try too hard and damage your tires if you're not careful with your driving style.