Career highlights making his F1 debut in Spain in 1975; securing his world title with Williams ahead of Nelson Piquet with victories in Argentina, France, Britain, Canada and the US; chalking up 12 grand prix victories and 24 podium finishes.

 3600 - the number of kilometres on my Lexus

16 - the age I got my Morris Minor convertible

Your first road car - do you remember what it was?

I do, quite embarrassingly. My father bought me a Morris Minor convertible, but painted it a shocking iridescent metallic green with gold interior. I had that for about 0.3 of a second. Couldn't wait to get out of it. Then I got a little Frogeye Sprite. For a young kid it was a sports car and much more to my liking.

As a Lexus ambassador, what's in the garage these days?

I've got an LS 600H F, which I really do love. I'm not saying it because I'm an ambassador. Even when I was in formula one living in Europe, I've always had four-door cars. I just find them a lot more convenient. Most of the time I just get around in Eco mode, believe it or not. But every now and again I enjoy putting it in Sport-Plus and showing people how it goes. For a reasonably big car it does go like hell.

What's your pet road peeve?

I get very frustrated with Australian drivers. The majority of them haven't got a clue how to operate roundabouts. They'll go up to one and stop, even though there are no other cars around. But what I really loathe is people driving with their arm out the window with a cigarette, continually flicking it like it's just one big ashtray out there.

It's not great for their car control, either.

Exactly, but then you can only hope that they crash and burn anyway.

What about the biggest technical weaknesses you observe with Australian drivers?

You see all these idiots going quick on the road and half of them haven't got a clue. They'll go through a corner, and when they come out, instead of letting the car follow its nose, they'll hold the steering wheel in longer than what they should, which creates a bit of a fishtail. You see them on wet roads, particularly, doing that.

If you could go on a long road trip with absolutely anyone, who would it be?

My father, so I could talk about all the things I didn't talk about when he was alive. I admired him. He was a bloody good driver. He was the first Australian ever to win a grand prix outside of Australia. We're still the only father and son to have ever won the Australian Grand Prix. But like all things, it's not until they go that you realise what you could have spoken about and some of the questions you could have asked.