“I didn’t have a clear roadmap into my career. I didn’t know exactly what was the next race, what will be my next team. I was improvising [and] every weekend was a new adventure.
“What I would say is that when I won the championship in 2006 and then I joined McLaren, I had a three-year contract for 2007, ’08 and ’09, and I was 99% sure that 2009 would be my last F1 season. That was my very clear plan in my head.”
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He continued: “When I signed that contract, in my head at that time, it was like a long-term contract and three years will feel maybe long, but this is the last. I already fulfilled my dream. This is beyond my wildest imagination to be an F1 champion, so what else can I do here?
“I signed this contract with McLaren, hoped to win more championships, hoped to win more races, but after F1 there is a different life outside. I was thinking I will have a family, I will do normal things, normal days.
“I don’t think that the 19-year-old, Minardi 2001 Fernando will think something strange about the 400 Grands Prix, because I was not thinking too much in the future, but in 2007, for sure, this would be a surprise.”
