My parents owned a butcher shop in South Tyrol, Italy, then a poor area. They worked hard to give us a good life. My earliest memory is of sitting behind the till, my father cutting meat. I learned quickly that if you want to get somewhere, you have to work. And that I didn’t want to be a butcher.
F1 racing was a lot more dangerous in the 1970s. I loved the heroism, drama and danger.
My mid-20s were very happy. I had no family and fewer responsibilities. I was going around the world to countries I never thought I’d go to as a kid and working with rally cars. I was living life to its fullest.
I’m not an angry person, but I do get very emotional when in a competition. I stay calm for a long time and when it gets too much, I flip – it’s like a switch, and something takes over. Otherwise, I’m thoughtful and calm.
Don’t be afraid of confrontation. Life should be about speaking your mind. You have to accept it if someone doesn’t agree with you. Don’t talk about people – talk to people.
When I’m at home, I’m at home. I don’t go out with friends. My social network isn’t big. I wouldn’t call myself a romantic, but my wife and I do lots together. When you’re married for 30 years, there are highs and lows, but you go through them together.
My greatest regret is not having children earlier. My daughter is 16, and I’m 60. Looking back, I would have done that differently, to give us more time together.
I was on fire once in Kenya. We were refuelling the car and it set alight. I was a little burned: hair, eyebrows… One guy was badly injured. I ripped my clothes off and extinguished myself.
Setting up an F1 team, Haas, is my greatest achievement. I started from a piece of paper on my kitchen table, wrote a business plan, then I achieved it. At heart, it’s about teamwork: some jobs are more important than others at different moments, but no one is above the team.
I’m a pretty restless person. I’m always doing something. I cannot sit still, doing nothing.
You have to stop for selfies. There are worse things to do in life than spending 10 seconds to take a picture with somebody who’s a fan. Fame isn’t something I hate. I always need to be aware now that wherever I am, there’s probably someone who knows me so I better not do anything stupid.
Nobody likes to get older, but I’ll be happy as long as I stay healthy. I try to stay young in my head. If you fall behind, you’re quite quickly out of touch with what’s happening in the world.
I’d like to be remembered as a good person, a fair person, who had respect for people. I’m not here to be the biggest or the greatest.
Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
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