Sebastian Vettel Quotes

You get such a visceral thrill driving a race car. You think you've driven, and then you're like, 'Oh, I was doing something for 20 years that I didn't realize I hadn't experienced the real version of.'

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.

The driver of a racing car is a component. When I first began, I used to grip the steering wheel firmly, and I changed gear so hard that I damaged my hand.

For me, it really just feels calm. When you're going fast on a downhill course, it's typically where it's wide open. I think it's kind of like driving a car. If you're going really fast and it's straight, everything seems to slow down. In general, racing downhill involves bigger turns and everything sort of slows down and you have a lot of time to think.

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 love driving fast. I grew up in Germany; we have the Autobahn here, where we can drive without a speed limit. And throughout my 20s, I always had fast cars, and I always went to the maximum. Like, my average cruising speed was 250 km/hr.

There are no drivers like Formula One drivers. They are engineers, in a way. They are driving manual cars one-handed at 200 miles per hour around streets in Monaco. These cars use the ultimate in technology.

To be honest, once you've driven around for about five, 10 laps, you don't notice a difference.

It was an unbelievable experience! The brakes, the g-forces and the power of the engine are beyond description. Thanks to BMW and WilliamsF1 for giving me this chance to test. The test team looked after me brilliantly and I learnt plenty.

I'm a really good driver. I've been driving since I was very small, and I do like driving fast. I remember the first time my dad taught me that when you go into a corner you change down then put your foot right down on the way out. I'm very competitive about driving.

People ask how hard it can be sitting down for work during a 500-mile race? Well, without power steering or power brakes, holding onto 650 horses in a car that has nearly 3,000 pounds of downforce and can produce up to 4Gs vertically and laterally can be extremely tough - even sitting down.

If I get into a car on a circuit, I drive as fast as I can; that's it!

Qualifying is all about putting everything that you have and that the car has in one lap. It's like a rush, I really enjoy that.

I like high speed corners, but with the F111, it is taking a little time to build up to that.

Bobsledding is like sprinting with NASCAR. You get to push these 400-pound sleds as fast as you can down a hill and hop in. How could you not enjoy that?

From GP3 to Formula 2, it's obviously a step, but it's only a step on driving I would say. Here from Formula 2 to Formula 1, it's a huge step on driving because we have nearly 400 BHP more, with a lot more downforce. So it's a completely different car.

We share the emotions of driving race cars. It's cool to have a dad who understands what you mean when you talk about oversteer or traction. But it's not a help at the race.

The smell of fuel, driving on the limit on the edge of sliding, it just gives you a lot of adrenaline.

When I think of the pace that I drove my first race, everything was happening a million miles an hour. Now when I get in the car everything happens so much slower.

Some younger drivers didn't grow up seeing racing as being dangerous. They break their little finger, and they are surprised. It's like, 'Be happy it's only that.'

People don't understand that it was maybe my biggest pleasure to drive an F1 car when it's wet.

I love fast cars... and to go too fast in them.

I'll give you a list of a hundred ways that I'm more likely to be injured than belting around a race track with people who know what they're doing. It's not a place where I feel I'm in unnecessary danger.

People get excited around me and behave differently than they would normally. I don't feel different from anyone else, except that I drive a racing car round in circles faster than somebody else.

I have been in Formula One for 12 years, and out of that I had one year with the perfect car.