Hill pays tribute to bike legend Sheene

Sheene, 52, won the 500cc bike world championship in 1976 and '77, and overcame numerous bone-breaking crashes to continue his career on two wheels until 1985. He then had a brief flirtation with touring cars before leaving England for the warm climate of Australia to ease the pain of arthritis in his damaged bones.

Sheene shunned conventional treatment after his cancer was diagnosed last summer, and his last competitive outing was in last year's Goodwood Revival meeting. He died in a hospital on Australia's Gold Coast on Monday.

Hill told the BBC: "He took his usual stance against the world and everything that was thrown at him - he refused to take conventional treatment and was going to do it his way, which was pure Barry. He would never listen to what anyone else would tell him to do and was determined to be himself. He was an incredibly brave person.

Hill added: "He was my very first hero and he was very important to me because he gave me the best bit of advice I ever had in my career. It came after Michael Schumacher did what he did to me in 1994 and I lost the world championship by one point. I went back to garage and I hadn't spoken to anyone, and he hunted me down and said: 'For God's sake, don't say anything.'

"It was crucial at that time to have someone like Barry around, who had been there and seen it all. He just meant for me to bite my tongue and, whatever I wanted to say, rise above it. That was a defining moment in my career, actually. God knows what would have happened if Barry hadn't been there."