Damon Hill regrets not having got to know Michael Schumacher on a personal level before the Formula 1 legend's tragic skiing accident.
The two racers had an iconic rivalry on the track in the 1990s. The German won the first two of his seven world titles in back-to-back seasons, before Hill won the championship for the first and only time a year later in 1996.
Schumacher went on to add five more world championship trophies to his collection and retired from F1 for the second and final time after the 2012 season. However, just a year later, tragedy struck when he crashed while skiing off-piste in France.
The racing legend survived, but requires constant care which he receives at the Schumachers' Lake Geneva home. The details of his condition remain shrouded in secrecy, with his wife Corinna keen to uphold her husband's privacy.
At the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, Hill was working Down Under as an expert analyst for TV station Network 10. He was asked about his relationship with Schumacher back when they were competing against one another, and he admitted they knew very little about each other on a personal level.
"No, not really," Hill replied when asked if he had spoken much with Schumacher prior to his accident. "I didn't have much to do with Michael, not because of any other reason. I'd retired from racing and he was still racing. And when we were racing we were sort of rivals.
"I don't think he was really interested in getting any relationship going. It's a shame. I would have liked to have known him better. But that might not happen now. It's just really bad what happened to Michael."
Speaking to news.com.au, Hill went on to add: "Whatever happened in sport, it's just sport. It's not meaningful in that sense. And what happened to Michael is just shocking and awful.
"It's obviously just really, really hard for his family and also for himself. That's a human tragedy and whatever happened on the track is paltry compared to things like that."
