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When I do retire, I know for a fact that I’ll never be able to replace the incredible feeling I get when I’m driving an F1 car.
In the car and in front of the camera I tend to be very calm but behind the scenes I can get fired up and passionate, I just don’t see the need to shout my mouth off in public.
I don’t purposely speed, but I might go over by five or six miles an hour from time to time. It doesn’t give me a buzz driving on normal roads, because I can’t go fast enough. It’s never going to be anything like an F1 car.
The fast, flowing parts, the high-speed corners, that’s where a Formula One car is at its best – changes of direction, pulling high g-forces left and right.
I keep my weight low, although you need to be able to move your weight around the race car to change the balance. I’m 6ft and I’m 70kg so I haven’t much fat on me.
When you’re in a car which can win every race, or fight for a win every race, that is pressure.
We all drive differently and have different styles. For me I need a car I can develop beneath me and feel comfortable in. If the car feels neutral and unbalanced it doesn’t work for me.
I need to develop a car and engineer a car in a position that feels comfortable for me, and I don’t think anyone can do a better job than I can in that position. The problem for me is if I can’t get the car there I do struggle more than some.
To understand the intensity of driving an F1 car, you have to be in it. When you’re driving a 750hp machine at 200mph, the noise and the vibrations are incredible. The G-force when you take big corners is like someone trying to rip your head off. You hit the brakes, and it feels as if the skin is being pulled off your body.
My time at Honda was amazing. Some of my best times in Formula One, actually. I might not have won races, just one race, but I had a lot of fun.