Hill opens up on being "nowhere near as good" as Schumacher and their difficult moments

Damon Hill clinched his one and only world championship for Williams in 1996 and drove in a monstrous era.

The British driver competed while Michael Schumacher was emerging as a young driver with Benetton.

He also battled four-time world champion Alain Prost. Hill shared the garage with Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve in his championship year.

Hill had multiple brutal battles with Schumacher, who immediately asserted himself as the driver to beat. The German beat Hill to the title in controversial circumstances in 1994.

The pair collided on the streets of Adelaide during the title decider which eliminated both cars from the race.

In 1995, they made contact once more at the British Grand Prix while battling at the front, handing victory to a fortunate Johnny Herbert.

In an interview with The Guardian, Hill explained that Schumacher couldn't compute not being top of the timesheets.

The 1996 world champion said: “He was embarrassed and didn’t know how to respond to someone who had beaten him. It was an awkward moment. I tried to have conversations with him and it wasn’t possible. Our values were different."

Hill and Schumacher's rivalry was one of the major flashpoints of the 1990s as the pair battled for championships.

Hill was "never going to pretend" he was on Schumacher's level

Schumacher was the driver to beat for much of his Formula 1 career and won a then record-breaking seven world championships.

The German driver was known for a ruthless streak on the track when it came to combat, walking a fine line at the limit.

He is also 10 years younger than Hill and was 26 when the Briton won the title in 1996, while his rival was 36 years old.

Hill knew he was nearing the end of his career when Schumacher came along and they battled throughout the mid 1990s.

He said: “I was nowhere near as good as him, and I’m never going to pretend that I was. But having him as a foil brought out the most I could get out of myself, and I know what it’s like to get driven absolutely to the maximum.

"Sometimes I was a match for him but, aged 36, it was hard. He was 26 and I was fighting the clock.”