Karting Quotes

Around 16 years old, when I was in Formula 3 and looking at potential options for the future, that's when I realized that Formula One was in the picture. But to be honest, I really just took it year by year throughout my karting years and stuff.

I was always fascinated by speed... My father was always an enthusiast and once I found a passion in racing, I had something in common with him, so from my childhood onwards we spent a lot of time going to karting tracks and racing in the various categories.

I can't remember what made my dad take us karting for the first time, I can't remember really. I was into motorsport by then and I knew everything, and every driver, it was around 2009, 2008. That's when I first properly knew about Formula One. Those were the days.

My first memory of motor racing - I think it was just attending a go kart race.

The biggest thing is getting the kid in a kart - they have to buy it and that's the biggest thing. You can go to a sporting store and buy a basketball for 30 bucks or a football for 30 bucks. You go buy a go-kart and that's 300 bucks. What are you going to get? A basketball or a go-kart?

In karting, in the European races, you have the cameras and the film crews and you do interviews. At around 13 I'd already started doing bit of media and it just increases more and more with every level you take, especially when you get into cars - and when you hit F1 it's an even higher step up. It's something you get used to over time.

In my city of Maracay, there is a go kart circuit about five minutes from my home. When I was about three or four years old, I said I wanted to race, but I was too young; then, when I reached the age of seven, my father gave me a kart and we started from there.

After karting in Venezuela, I came to Europe in 1998 to compete in international kart races, which was great for me to get experience racing outside my country. After consistently being at the top, I decided to move to Italian Formula Renault.

You do a period of go-karting until you're at the age of qualifying for a ride in a 'school-kart,' then you qualify for driving school. And several of the driving schools have a competition series for their own students.

Sometimes I go Go Karting. Just regular old kid stuff.

I started racing go-karts. And I love karts. It's the most breath taking sport in the world. More than F1, indeed, I used to like it most.

When I was 7-years-old I, discovered Go-Karts and started Karting, since then I thought to be an F1 driver, that was pretty much buried into my head.

I was three years old. I had a go-kart that my dad had on a leash so I would not go too quick.

I love racing, I love racing everything really - karts, anything - so I do need to keep doing that. But the focus is on Formula One.

I turned away from bikes when I got a bambino kart for my seventh birthday and started doing some karting, just around some cones at home, but I didn't think at that point I knew I wanted to go into F1, it was more just for fun.

I love Mario Kart.

I raced with my brother from when I started to 2014 when I finished karting.

Already in go-karts, I said, 'OK, that's what I really want to do professionally as a career, as a job.'

I've had a lot of support from back home, starting way back in karting and since then I have been lucky to have been supported by some great Finnish companies.

I think I was five when I had my real first go-kart.

I like to dirt bike ride, four wheeler, go-kart.

When you are a kid racing karts, you want to be an F1 driver.

We need to get more women into sport, whether that's young girls in karting or off the track. The more we get into sport, the more you are going to get rising to the top of the sport.

I have spent a lot of time in Italy throughout my career - especially when I was karting, because it's kind of the world centre of that sport - and I love it.

I have been waiting to win a world championship since 1985. I've had three cracks at a world title - in karting, I finished third at Le Mans; that hurt because it was very close, but then in Formula One there wasn't really an opportunity to finally crack it, so it's third time lucky.