I was lucky. My father raced bikes. He gave me the passion very early. I had my first bike when I was three or four years old.

We have the 2004 M1 here for reference, which is useful. It worked well here last year; we won the race and always did fast lap times so it will be interesting to compare it to the new bike and it will help us to understand which parts have improved.

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

You need to realise that, if you want to go on, you have to work hard. If you dwell too much on your past successes and say "well, I have won nine world titles and more than 100 races", you'd rather stay home. The sport, your rivals, the tyres, your motorcycle, everything changes so instead you need to work more to be stronger. If you don't, you're finished.

I try to have a different relationship with the bike. I don't give it a name, but I always speak with it. I don't know if the other riders do the same. This is not only a piece of metal - there is a soul. The bike talks back too. But not with a voice, with the components

It's a big, big advantage because understanding what changes we might make takes time and it takes time to work out settings and to understand everything about the new machine.

I am completely focused on being strong, riding fast, and enjoying myself. With the new generation of riders, only the chronometer counts. I need to be faster than them on track.