Twenty five years have passed since Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, but he remains revered by those who knew him, raced against him and were inspired by him.

In a series of interviews conducted in 2014 and reproduced here, Autocar was shown just how profound an impact the Brazilian prodigy had on the worlds of motorsport, technology and popular culture. 

Damon Hill - World champion, 1996; Senna’s team-mate at Williams in 1994

I only had such a brief time working with Ayrton, but through all of it, I would say that he was a pretty serious guy.

I had read about him and studied his performances before I had got to Formula One and then when he joined the team, I spent a while trying to marry up the public image that had built up in my mind to the guy that was now sitting alongside me in the team truck. I have to say they were pretty similar. I don’t think the guy had a mask, as such, but he was genuine to himself and that is the man that he was.