Damon Hill: I think Senna scared himself

Hill started his F1 career back in 1992 with Brabham, with whom he contested two Grands Prix that year, but then moved to Williams in 1993, and in his second year with the Grove-based outfit, he was joined by the great Senna.

As it tragically turned out, the driver pairing did not last long as Senna was killed in his third race with Williams, the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, wrestling the uncompetitive FW16 against the Benetton of Michael Schumacher.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail ahead of Thursday's release of a documentary about his career during the Glasgow Film Festival, Hill recalled working with Senna.

Despite sharing the Williams' garage with the Brazilian for only three races, Hill was able to gain an insight into his personality; he said: "He was private, I would say, and quite intense and serious and fearsomely competitive and fast.

"He drove with an anger, I think, with a fury which I’m not sure he felt he could control. I think he was an extraordinary person, and there are no two ways around it; he was unique and maybe overly intense and overly competitive.

"I think he scared himself, is the truth," the winner of 22 Grands Prix summed up.

Senna died on what could be labeled as F1's darkest weekend. Rubens Barrichello cheated death after a crash in practice, but Simtek's Roland Ratzenberger wasn't as lucky and lost his life after a crash in qualifying the next day.

On Sunday, and after a restart of the race following a Safety Car period due to a first lap crash, Senna crashed coming out of Tamburello, trying to keep Schumacher behind, and died.

Asked whether Senna's death made him question being an F1 driver, Hill said: "Well, have you ever driven a Formula 1 car?

"It’s exciting. It’s very exciting. And, also, driving the best lap you can in qualifying is such a thrill," he went on. "You’re meeting a part of yourself; you’re expressing yourself in a way that can only be expressed through racing and through driving a Formula 1 car. So, actually, it’s very difficult to imagine not doing it.

"The question is, did Ayrton love racing? Yes. Did Roland Ratzenberger love racing? Yes. All the guys that raced loved it.

"You get an opportunity in your life, and you don’t want to die holding this opportunity, never having exploited it. That’s almost more frightening," Hill concluded.

Hill went on to win his only F1 title with Williams in 1996. In 1997, he joined Danka Arrows Yamaha for one season and then moved to Jordan in 1998 where he remained until his retirement at the end of the 1999 season.