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Sunday World
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Formula One legends join star-studded memorial service for Eddie Jordan in London
Jordan died at the age of 76 in March in Cape Town in South Africa after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate and bladder cancer Rick Astley and Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford were among the stars who joined several Formula One legends at Eddie Jordan's memorial service in London yesterday. Current and former racers such as Eddie Irvine, Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen, Martin Donnelly, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle, Christian Horner and Johnny Herbert joined hundreds who packed into Westminster Central Hall to pay tribute to the Dubliner. Jordan died at the age of 76 in March in Cape Town in South Africa after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate and bladder cancer. No funeral details were announced for the father-of-four, from Dartry in south Dublin. But his widow Marie attended yesterday's ceremony, at which his daughter Zoe recited A E Housman's poem To an Athlete Dying Young. 'The time you won your town the race,' she read. Celebrating the life of Eddie Jordan 'We chaired you through the marketplace, Man and boy stood cheering by, and home we brought you shoulder high. 'Today, the road all runners come, Shoulder-high we bring you home, And set you at your threshold down, Townsman of a stiller town.' She ended: 'Now you will not swell the rout. Of lads that wore their honours out, Runners whom renown outran, And the name died before the man.' Eddie was once a racing car driver himself and went on to found Jordan Gran Prix, winning four Formula One races and employing Eddie Irvine, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Video clips of his life and his achievements were shown on a big screen and at the service's end his old Silverstone band Eddie and the Robbers. They were joined on stage by Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford and singer Rick Astley, with performers from Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance getting a string of F1 drivers and the 1000 or so audience singing and clapping along to The Beatles' Hey Jude "Yesterday we had a chance to celebrate the life of the late Great Eddie Jordan," Hill wrote on X. "And what a life he lived. Awesome. He's not coming back, but he will never leave us. Tanks EJ." A series or tributes were also paid to Jordan at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend, which was attended by among others Heinz Harald Frentzen and Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill and Eddie Irvine. The four of them took to the stage for a special musical tribute to him, with Irvine on percussion and Hill playing guitar. The star-studded memorial for Eddie Jordan in London Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 8th
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Eddie Jordan's send-off was a reminder that life in sport is so noble that it's harrowing when it's taken away, writes OLIVER HOLT
There was a memorial service to celebrate the life of Eddie Jordan at Westminster Central Hall on Monday. It was riotous, just as Eddie's life was. When his widow, Marie, spotted a friend beginning to cry when they met before the start, she scolded him gently. It was not to be that sort of occasion. Nor was it. Eddie's was a life well lived, a life that was cut short too soon, but a life that had given him love, children, grandchildren, happiness, success and a rock-star lifestyle in Formula One. A thousand people and more who loved him celebrated all that he was when they flocked to this cavernous venue. And as the service came to an end, Eddie's old Silverstone band, Eddie and the Robbers, were joined on stage by Rick Astley, Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, performers from Michael Flatley 's Lord of the Dance and a cohort of clapping, stamping F1 drivers, among their number Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen, Martin Donnelly, David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert, Martin Brundle and Eddie Irvine. As they clapped and cheered, footage on the big screen behind them showed Jordan jumping off the pit wall at Spa in 1998 and skipping joyously down the pit lane in the aftermath of Damon Hill's victory in the Belgian Grand Prix, the first triumph for Jordan Grand Prix, the day the sport's great disruptor entered the pantheon of its greats. The day after Lando Norris won the British Grand Prix for McLaren and huge crowds swelled the stands at the old aerodrome at Silverstone, everything seeming to confirm that the sport is in rude health, it was worth remembering that today's heroes stand on the shoulders of giants like Jordan. After the service, we all went down to the Lecture Hall and Library and savoured the joy of seeing old friends and resolving to meet again soon and recapture those days of the 1980s and '90s that were at the heart of the youth of many of us, swapping stories about Eddie. Mine are only fond. Like many, I will always feel I owe him a debt because he, and friends of his like his commercial director, Ian Phillips, were welcoming and friendly to me when I came into the sport in the early 90s and introduced me to people who I might never have met otherwise. It was Eddie who egged me on, with indecent glee, to do a bungee jump at the Indianapolis 500 in 1993. He told the story ever after of how petrified and inelegant I looked — and was — as I plunged off the platform. It was the first and last time I ever did a bungee jump. It would not have happened without him. I remember how amused he was when Bob McKenzie, from the Daily Express, and I offered to take him and Phillips to dinner at a fancy restaurant called Le Roannay in Francorchamps during another Belgian Grand Prix weekend. As the night wore on and the wine flowed, he invited Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone over and the night got better and better, Flavio ordering the best grappas the restaurant served. They had to wake Bob and I at the end of the night when everyone else had gone — and then we saw the bill. I swapped a few messages with Eddie a couple of years before he died in March this year at the age of 76, and he was still laughing about that night. 'Reminds me of Spa when da journos PAID,' he wrote and I could hear him laughing. He was still full of mischief. Not too long ago, he gave me some information about a deal he thought was happening in F1 and was delighted when we ran it. 'U did brilliant to run da story,' he wrote. 'Bravo.' Bob was there on Monday, of course, and Ian, with a few genuine rock stars, a lot of grandchildren and many of the drivers who drove for him. There were a lot of songs and a lot of reminiscences of a man who, as Hill had said recently, 'had the energy of a nuclear power station'. There were plenty of readings, too. His daughter, Zoe, read beautifully. It was one of the only solemn parts of the afternoon. She recited A E Housman's poem To an Athlete Dying Young. 'Now you will not swell the rout,' she read, 'Of lads that wore their honours out, Runners whom renown outran, And the name died before the man.' I thought then of sport and loss and of Diogo Jota, a young man, humble and amiable, a loving husband, father, son, brother, champion, footballer and friend, taken so, so early, and of the terrible tragedy of a full life like Eddie's that was snatched away from Jota in an instant. There is something so noble and vital about a life in sport, a life that represents vigour, youth and triumph, that the loss of men and women in the arena, men and women who have lived our dreams and given us so much, seems even harder to bear. 'The time you won your town the race,' Housman's poem begins, 'We chaired you through the market-place, Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high. 'Today, the road all runners come, Shoulder-high we bring you home, And set you at your threshold down, Townsman of a stiller town.' What a strange coincidence Even limited exposure to elements of the Premier League is enough to make a cynic out of a saint. If it were not enough that Arsenal should have continued to pick Thomas Partey for nearly three years knowing he faced allegations of rape, what a strange coincidence that the player should be charged three days after the expiry of his Arsenal contract. The brain glitches with tech errors One of the problems with technology in sport is that officials are so in thrall to it that it steals away their common sense and ability to exercise judgment. When Britain's Sonay Kartal hit a backhand that was clearly long at a crucial juncture of her match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Sunday, chair umpire Nico Helwerth ordered the point to be replayed when it became apparent the line-calling system had been inadvertently switched off. Pavlyuchenkova was, rightly, livid and the authorities are fortunate that she went on to win the match. The issue is that the shot was several inches out. It wasn't even close to clipping the line. If Helwerth had called it as he saw it, there would not have been a problem. But when technology glitches, the human brain appears to glitch with it.
Time of India
03-07-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
British F1 Grand Prix 2025: Date, times, full schedule and how to watch live in UK, US, and India
Image credit: Getty Images The British Grand Prix is all set to return to the famous Silverstone Circuit, which is also featured in the recently released Lewis Hamilton co-production, F1. The race consists of 52 laps of the 5.891-kilometre circuit. This is the home race for Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell, which should be enough to hint at the fan support for these drivers at the circuit. Not to forget, Hamilton has won the race nine times in his F1 career. British Grand Prix 2025: Full weekend schedule and start times Ahead of the first practice on Friday, July 4, the day will begin with an F1 car presentation, followed by Formula 1 Pirelli Hot Laps. There will also be a team press conference at 2:30 p.m. local time. The British Grand Prix will officially open with the first free practice session, FP1, at 12:30 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. IST). The second free practice session, FP2, will follow at 4:00 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. IST) on the same day. A historic F1 car demonstration will take place afterward. The day will start slightly earlier on Saturday, July 5, at 11:30 a.m. (4:00 p.m. IST) with the third free practice session, FP3. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Spiel des Monats: Wenn du einen Computer hast, ist dieses Spiel ein absolutes Muss! Forge Of Empires Jetzt spielen Undo Before that, there will be another historic F1 car presentation, an Eddie Jordan tribute, and team pit stop practice. It will be followed by the Qualifying race at 3:00 p.m. (7:30 p.m. IST), and a press conference thereafter. There will also be an F1 Experiences Champions Club Grid Walk and trophy photo opportunity. The British Grand Prix final is scheduled for Sunday, July 6, at 3:00 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. IST). But a lot is planned ahead of the final race to build up the mood. There will be a Red Arrows fly-past from Tempelhof Airport to add to the Grand Prix atmosphere. Earlier in the day, there will be the F1 historic car presentation, the Eddie Jordan tribute, and the drivers' parade as well. Where to watch and stream the British F1 Grand Prix 2025 Formula 1 enthusiasts in India can watch the race live on FanCode, TATA Play, or FanCode Sports. Here is the list of broadcasters that will air the British Grand Prix in real time: India – FanCode, TATA Play, FanCode Sports UK, Ireland – Sky Sports, Channel 4 Canada – RDS, RDS 2, TSN, Noovo USA – ESPN, ESPN Deportes Australia – Fox Sports, Foxtel, Kayo Africa – SuperSport Brazil – TV Bandeirantes China – Shanghai TV, Guangdong Television Channel, Tencent France – Canal+ Germany – Sky Deutschland, RTL Italy – Sky Italia Japan – Fuji TV, DAZN New Zealand – Sky NZ Buildup to the British GP Ahead of the British Grand Prix, Formula 1 CEO and President Stefano Domenicali met British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street on Wednesday. He was accompanied by F1 drivers Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Ollie Bearman, and Esteban Ocon, as well as team bosses James Vowles, Flavio Briatore, Andy Cowell, Jonathan Wheatley, and Ayao Komatsu. F1 legends Sir Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, Martin Brundle, and Jenson Button were also present. Also Read: Revisiting the legendary British Grand Prix moment when Nigel Mansell gave Ayrton Senna a lift in his F1 car Lewis Hamilton won the British GP last year as a Mercedes driver. Lando Norris finished third. Another Briton, George Russell, secured pole position but couldn't convert it into a podium. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here . Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
Telegraph
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Damon Hill interview: I said to Mum ‘I think it's Daddy' and she started screaming
For Damon Hill, next week's British Grand Prix at Silverstone promises to bring back special memories. It is 31 years since the silver-goateed former racer won his home Grand Prix, an achievement even his father, legendary two-time world champion Graham Hill, never managed. But it was what happened after that race that Hill is going to try to recreate next week. '1994 was the first year EJ [Eddie Jordan] got us all up on to his flatbed truck to play rock'n'roll in the paddock,' Hill recalls, smiling. 'He came over with his brother-in-law, or his cousin, Des Large – there was a whole gang of them from Ireland.' A tradition was born that day. Hill, who as a teenager had played in a punk band called Sex Hitler and the Hormones, was on guitar, fellow drivers Johnny Herbert and Perry McCarthy assisted on vocals, Jordan himself was on drums. 'I think [David] Coulthard was on triangle,' Hill says, laughing. 'I'm going to get him up on stage. We're going to try to recapture the enthusiasm of those first few years. Although without EJ there, it's all a bit more daunting!' Hill shakes his head, remembering some of the wilder antics of the irrepressible Irishman, one of F1's great characters and a man who later became his team boss. Sadly, Jordan died in March this year after a battle with prostate cancer. 'Eddie had the energy of a nuclear power station,' Hill wrote in a touching tribute in The Telegraph. 'There will never be another like him.' Hill knows more than most about loss and grief. His entire adult life has been shaped by it. The tragic death of his father on November 29, 1975, in a light aircraft he had been piloting, along with all five of his crew, happened when Damon was just 15 years old. Unsurprisingly, it left a mass of unresolved issues. When Hill won his own world title, 21 years later, in 1996, it was one of the most popular and emotional wins in F1 history. They were the first father-son world champion combination. Murray Walker, who had known Graham well during his career, famously had to stop commentating when Damon clinched the title in Japan because he had a 'lump in his throat' (listen to his commentary below). Damon Hill takes his eighth win of the season, and with it the Drivers' Championship at Suzuka. Murray Walker with commentary. Japan - 1996 #F1 — F1 History (@TodayF1History) February 6, 2024 But for Hill, his 1996 triumph did not give him the closure he thought it might. When he retired a few years later, he still had to come to terms with his grief. Years of depression and therapy followed. 'You can't bring someone back from the dead,' Hill says of what he learnt in those sessions, as he sits back on a sofa in his Farnham home. We are on a video call. 'You can't undo the experience. What you have to do is defuse it. It's like an unexploded bomb. You've got to defuse it, so it doesn't go off at times when you're under stress. Because it will. 'I still get massive anxiety. If something gets slightly too worrying for me, I get this panic attack. My mum had it too. She was on edge her whole life. Because she had been waiting for that call her whole life. All her friends got 'the call', you know? Her friends whose husbands died [in motor racing accidents], they'd all got 'the call'. 'And then Dad retires. She thinks she's in the clear. Her guard is down. And then… 'Oh, here's the call'. So I've lived with that anxiety, that bolt out of the blue. And even if I speak about it now I touch wood.' The man who 'never wanted to be an F1 driver' Hill's story has been told before. His autobiography, Watching the Wheels, published in 2016, was a typically insightful and eloquent attempt to grapple with life's big questions by a man who has become an acclaimed pundit on both television and radio. But it has now been made into a documentary, too, which is why we are speaking today. Hill, a 90-minute film directed by BAFTA-nominated film-maker Alex Holmes, premieres on Sky Documentaries on July 2, the opening day of British Grand Prix weekend. 'I hope F1 fans like it,' Hill says. 'And that people who aren't interested in Formula One get something from it, too. It's a human story, ultimately.' It certainly packs an emotional punch. Right from its opening montage, in which footage of the 1994 world championship denouement in Adelaide (which as all F1 fans know is where Hill was famously denied the title after being punted out of the race by a certain Michael Schumacher) is interspersed with grainy home videos from Hill's childhood, and shots of the plane wreckage. 'My whole life people asked me, 'Do you want to be an F1 driver like your dad?'' Hill says as the opening credits roll. 'The truth is I never wanted to be one. It's almost like I was trying to get back to the start again… the place where it all went off the rails. [Because] if I could get back to the start again, maybe I could put right everything which went wrong.' What drove Hill? Undoubtedly he became an F1 driver because his father was. But would he have become one unless his father died in the way he did? Was he trying to prove himself worthy of his father? To mend himself? Mend his family? These are questions Hill has spent much of his life pondering. He is still not sure. 'Was it like some sort of Greek tragedy?' he asks. 'You know, your fate is set in stone and there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Was that it? I don't know.' He definitely felt a weight of responsibility towards his mother, Bette, and to his sisters Brigitte (18 months older than Damon) and Samantha (four years younger). They had enjoyed a privileged childhood, moving from Hampstead to a large pile in Hertfordshire when Damon was a boy. 'Motor racing was lucrative,' Hill explains in the film. 'Call it danger money. We had a taste of the high life. We were very lucky children.' Family archive footage of Damon and Brigitte playing with their father, swimming, giggling, waterskiing on sunny holidays, attests to that. 'We were all shocked by how quickly the party ended [after he died],' Hill says. 'The world moves on very quickly. Dad was obviously the attraction.' The scenes in which Hill recalls the night his father died are particularly raw. It happened six months after Graham had announced his retirement and the family had 'all breathed a huge sigh of relief', having spent years worrying they might get 'the call'. Damon was watching television with Samantha. 'I can't remember what it was, probably M*A*S*H or something.' The programme was interrupted by a newsflash about a private plane crashing on to Arkley golf course, on the approach to Elstree. Hill knew his father was making his way back to Elstree from a test at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, along with five passengers who comprised the core of his new Embassy Hill F1 team. He remembers a 'wave of heat coming up through my legs and then into my face'. Panic. Hill made his way to the kitchen to see his mother, who was entertaining neighbours, waiting for her husband to join them. But before he got there, the phone in the hall rang. 'I hid, because I wanted to hear what they were saying, because I was terrified,' he says. It was a reporter. Bette told them to go away. When Hill told her what he had seen on the news, and said, 'I think it's Daddy', 'she got hysterical – she just started screaming and getting very cross, saying, 'I knew it was too good to be true'.' 'Mum went to five funerals in a week' Life had changed for ever. Not only did the family have to deal with the grief of losing their father and husband, the 'life and soul of every party', someone Damon clearly adored, the aftermath was extremely messy. The plane, it turned out, was not registered properly. Graham Hill's instrument rating, proving he was qualified to fly at night and in poor visibility, had not been renewed. He had borrowed money to fund his team. The family were forced to sell everything, including the house. Hill, barely into his teens, was left with a mass of contradictory feelings; anger, sadness, even guilt. 'It was bewildering. I think I was just at that perfect age of only understanding a bit, but not being able to comprehend or process it all. Obviously there were other families involved so it was not just our grief. My mum went to five funerals in a week, one of them being her husband's. And the reason she couldn't get to the other one was because there were two funerals on the same day. 'Think about that. What was that like for my mum? What could she do? What was it like for those families having my mum there? How did they feel about my dad? You know, I have met some of the children of the other passengers occasionally. But, I mean, it's very difficult. What can you say? You do feel like saying 'Do you want an apology?' But why am I the person who should feel that? And is it even appropriate?' Hill's early years in racing, initially on motorbikes, his real passion, and later cars, are again accompanied by some wonderful home video footage. On his 11th birthday, Hill is presented with a motorbike by his dad at Brands Hatch, an occasion he remembers chiefly for being hugely embarrassed. 'I didn't want to be in the limelight, being pushed forward because you're the son of…' But the real star of the documentary is Hill's wife Georgie. Her contributions are so well-judged, so intimate, the film-makers ended up using only the interviews with her and Hill, leaving out contributions from the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart, Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn. Georgie's memories of their courtship, Hill in his racing leathers draped across his bike, are both amusing and poignant. 'On the surface he was joking around, but he was one of the saddest people I've come across in my life,' she recalls. She remembers going on a trip to a race meeting when suddenly they stopped outside a churchyard and Hill broke down in tears. It was the churchyard in Hertfordshire in which his father was buried. 'That was the first time he'd ever mentioned him to me. And that was after six months.' Georgie's recollections of Imola in 1994, when Ayrton Senna, Hill's team-mate at Williams, died in a tragic accident, are similarly insightful. Before the race, Senna walked into her room in the team motorhome to find her reading and stayed for a while. 'He was asking about Ollie [the Hills' eldest child] and talking about how happy he was with his nephews, playing with them in the sea. He's leaving and he stops and says: 'Don't worry about Damon, he's going to be fine. Williams are a great team. They're safe. They'll look after him.' He literally walked out, went to his garage, went straight to his car. And that was that.' F1 fans might be surprised the film makes no mention of Roland Ratzenberger, the Austrian driver who also lost his life during that Imola race weekend. The makers apparently decided F1 fans already know the history, and those who did not, did not need the extra detail. Producer Simon Lazenby, of Sky Sports F1, who first came up with the idea for the film when he and Damon were flying back from a race in Canada in 2018, admits cost was also a factor. The film was made on 'a tight budget, six figures rather than seven', with every minute of archive footage costing thousands. In that respect, it helps that Hill has always been a keen videographer, just like his father was. 'Dad had a Super 8, an 8mm film. And I think maybe because he did it… I don't know, I just loved capturing those moments, too. I gave the makers hours and hours of home videos to wade through, way too much in fact!' 'I am competitive. And so is Georgie' Hill's rise from novice bike rider to novice racing car driver to F1 test driver to F1 world champion is interspersed with home footage of Georgie and their expanding family. The couple have four children: Oliver, Josh, Tabitha and Rosie. Ollie was born with Down's syndrome, just when Damon was getting his F1 career under way, another key moment. Georgie remembers the hospital staff scribbling down the names of care homes that might take him. 'He wasn't even 12 hours old and they'd laid out his future for him,' she says. 'And I felt: 'Right, OK, if that's all he's worth. He's worth a lot more to us.'' Damon and Georgie are now patrons of the Down's Syndrome Association, as well as Halow, a charity based near them in Guildford which Damon co-founded. The day after we speak, Damon is racing in his annual karting event for the charity at Sandown. It is now in its 12th year. 'Halow provides a community for people with learning disabilities,' Hill says. 'It's unbelievably important. Of course, the funding has all been slashed and they're suffering like many charities.' Ollie usually lives in supported-living across the road, but he is temporarily living back in with them having recently undergone a double hip operation. Hill takes me over to say hello while he is lying on the treatment table and we have a funny conversation in which he cannot hear me because I am speaking into Hill's earpods. Their other son, Josh, was a single-seater racer for a while. Hill was understandably a little anxious when Josh first broached the idea of racing, given what it had put him through. 'Oh my God! No! That's what I thought. But what I said was, 'Oh. OK! Great!'' he wrote in his book. But he backed him all the way to European F3 before Josh quit suddenly in 2013, initially to pursue a musical career. Hill was impressed both by his son's driving skills and his decisiveness; knowing what he wanted in life. It is back to that overarching theme again. What drove Hill? In one particularly revealing bit of home video in the documentary, at a school sports day involving Josh in the early 2000s, Hill might have been interviewing himself. 'You want him to be the best don't you?' he asks Georgie. 'No, as long as he's back safely,' she counters. 'I don't want him to be competitive at all. I want him to enjoy his life.' Hill persists. 'You don't think he can enjoy his life by winning?' Georgie replies: 'I don't want him to feel he always has to be the best at something and if he hasn't won he has failed. I think that's terrible.' It is a fascinating exchange. Would Hill have been happier if he had just stayed away from it all and enjoyed his life? 'Well that's a very keen observation,' he says. 'And yeah, I mean, it is a question I constantly asked myself during my career… it's this contradiction, this paradox, the yin and yang of your being, isn't it? 'Actually in that video, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. We had just come back from living in Ireland, where everything was very laissez-faire. And then we came back to England and it was Blair's Britain, and we got to this school, I won't mention the name, and it was just push and shove! Everyone was so ambitious. But yes, I am also making a point that I am competitive. And so is Georgie, to be fair. She's a liar! She wanted Josh to win. She wants to win in every game she plays. She denies her competitiveness, but she's got a very, very strong competitive spirit.' Hill laughs. Georgie was, he admits, nervous about contributing to the film at first. 'She didn't want to talk about anything. But I think she thinks it's a good film now she's got over it. You know, it's a weepy really. With a happy ending. And she's brilliant in it. I'm going to be left behind now. She's going to go off with Tom Cruise or someone.' 'You never want to go back and revisit these experiences' It is difficult not to feel happy for Hill. At how his life has panned out. Now 64, he is almost universally loved by F1 fans, not simply because he overcame such a traumatic adolescent experience, but because he never compromised his values. He tried to do it the right way. By his own admission, he was not the most talented driver of all time. But he was one of the most decent. In a sport literally known as the 'Piranha Club', in which the protagonists are mostly alpha males, Hill was the opposite. He was introverted and withdrawn. He had to learn to stand up for himself. But he was never corrupted. It is what gives him authenticity now when he calls out the sometimes erratic behaviour of drivers such as Max Verstappen. Hill's criticism of the Dutchman and his Red Bull team may well have cost him his job at Sky Sports F1 at the end of last year. Verstappen complained about 'biased people' within the paddock and Hill was gone weeks later. 'I like to think not,' he told The Telegraph earlier this year. 'I hope not.' Before he hangs up, I ask whether the film was in some ways cathartic. Going back over his life, trying to make sense of it all. He had done it already in his book, of course. But this was someone else asking him the questions, going over home footage which had long been gathering dust. 'I mean, you never want to go back and revisit these experiences,' he says at length. 'They're painful, and they still carry the residue of the horror and the shock. But I think you'll find that people who do a lot of therapy are quite resilient, because you don't have the illusions any more. You don't have this idea of how it could be if only everything was different. You just try to come to terms with the world, rather than get the world to come to terms with you.' Hill smiles again. 'It was enjoyable [making the film], going through all the old archives, the different haircuts through the ages, the children, everything that was going on contemporaneously. Because that's real life. I mean, all these F1 drivers… we see them now, they show themselves off on their speedboats or whatever. But when they go back to their apartments, they're human like the rest of us. They all go 'What's on the telly?' F1 is this extraordinary, high-octane world, but in between, it's unbelievably normal. I used to come back after winning a race and put the bins out.'
The Sun
27-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Offer to help ‘wake up' Michael Schumacher rejected by stricken F1 legend's wife Corinna, ex-teammate reveals
MICHAEL Schumacher 's wife Corinna rejected offers to help "wake up" the F1 legend, a former teammate has revealed. Italian F1 star Riccardo Patrese said he offered to help the seven-time world champion with recovery, but claims it was rebuffed by his wife. 5 5 5 5 World champion Schumacher has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious head injury after a skiing accident in December 2013. Pal Patrese said he believed a familiar voice would help the former Ferarri and Mercedes star to recover from his tragic accident. He told "Then he had the accident. "That is a very sad moment. You know that sometimes if they hear [a familiar voice], some boys wake up, that they recognise a voice. "I asked [Schumacher's wife] Corinna if they wanted me to go there and try to help if I could. "Well, if I could, I would have, but they said, 'No, thank you'. She said it's not the moment. But that moment has never come." Schumacher's wife Corinna has spent the years since creating a private world around Michael as he continues his recovery. Over the last decade, his condition has remained a secret. Patrese added: "I know nothing [about his illness], but from the first moment of course I was in very good connection with Michael, because of the national team of drivers for soccer for charity. "He was the captain of the team. When I left, I gave to him the armband of the captain and he was really very happy to do it." In 2022, Late F1 legend Eddie Jordan told the Irish Mirror he tried to arrange a visit with Schumacher, but his efforts were reportedly rebuffed. Many pals have previously tried to offer help to the F1 legend get back on his feet. But one former teammate is hopeful that the Formula One icon is "on the mend" after his first public act in 12 years. Schumacher recently signed fellow motorsport great Sir Jackie Stewart's helmet alongside dozens of other drivers in a touching move that has left many hopeful about his health. His autograph marks the stricken F1 legend's only public act since his devastating ski accident in the French Alps almost 12 years ago. He is said to have signed it with the help of Corinna as an image showed his initials "M.S" on the bottom right of the iconic white helmet. What happened to Michael Schumacher? MICHAEL Schumacher's life was hanging by a thread 12 years ago as medics tried desperately to keep him alive after a tragic skiing crash that left him with horrific brain injuries. The F1 legend was given the best possible treatment as he was put into a medically induced coma, had his body temperature lowered and underwent hours of tricky operations on his brain. Back in 2013, the retired seven-time world champion, and his then 14-year-old son set off on the Combe de Saulire ski run in the exclusive French resort of Meribel. Footage from his helmet camera revealed he was not travelling at excessive speed when his skis struck a rock hidden beneath the snow. He catapulted forward 11.5ft and crashed into a boulder head first that split his helmet into two and left him needing to be airlifted to hospital for two life-saving operations. At one point his family were told to brace themselves for the worst case scenario as the situation was much worse than originally believed. At the time, medics said Schumacher was likely to stay in an induced coma for at least 48 hours as his body and mind recovered. But the coma ended up lasting 250 days - more than eight months. After he woke up in June 2014, he was discharged from hospital and sent to his home in Lake Geneva to get further treatment. Since then his wife Corinna and his inner circle of friends have expertly avoided almost anything leaking out about his health status. Only small amounts of information have been released including reports that Schumacher was in a wheelchair but can react to things around him. In 2019, it was said that Schumacher was set to undergo breakthrough stem cell therapy in a bid to regenerate and rebuild his nervous system. Renowned France cardiologist Dr Philippe Menasche, who had operated on him previously, was set to carry out the treatment that would see cells from his heart go to his brain. Following the treatment at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, he was said to be "conscious", although few other details were given about his state. Schumacher's teammate at Benetton between 1994 to 1995, Johnny Herbert, described the signature as an "emotional" moment. He told FastSlots: "It's wonderful news that Michael Schumacher signed Jackie Stewart 's helmet. It was a wonderful moment. "We haven't seen something emotional like this in years, and hopefully, it's a sign. "Hopefully, Michael is on the mend. It's been a long, horrible journey for the family, and maybe we'll hopefully see him in the F1 paddock soon." Schumacher now lives at a £50million custom-built property on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where he is cared for by a dedicated team of medical staff. Only a handful of trusted people are aware of his current health status, including e x-Ferrari boss Jean Todt, his former teammates Felipe Massa and Luca Badoer, as well as longtime manager Sabine Kehm. He recently became a granddad for the first time last month after his daughter Gina welcomed a baby girl named Millie. The legendary Formula One driver is believed to have flown from his family's villa in Majorca to their Swiss mansion in a chopper to join his daughter before the birth. Gina revealed she was pregnant shortly after tying the knot to partner Iain Bethke at a villa in Majorca last year. There was speculation at the time that her F1 champion dad attended the wedding, but it is unclear if he ever made the ceremony.
