‘He’s got the ingredients’ – 1996 world champion Damon Hill picks the title winners of the future | Formula 1®

“It’s much harder. At one point you think ‘we’re winning, we’re going to win’. And of course, that is the golden rule in all sports – to not get ahead of yourself.

“It’s actually keeping your mind in the present and always keeping on the same competitive urge until the flag drops or you get to the end of the season.”

READ MORE: Horner braced for battle ‘all the way to the end’ after Norris cuts Verstappen’s lead again in Singapore

Hill was also quizzed on the approach that title rivals take during moments of direct combat, to which the Briton responded: “If you’ve got, for example, a situation where you could lose the championship if you don’t finish and you’ve got someone challenging you, then you have to bear that in mind – they might benefit if you don’t finish.

“There’s a tactical consideration, but you should never be thinking about the championship and trying to calculate the points when you’re racing because, ultimately, you know the score: you have to stay in front. If you score the most points, you’ll win the championship.

“There may be times when you can concede the lead, or concede the win of a race just to get the points you need to become world champion. You have to do a bit of pre-race calculation as to the possible scenarios. You don’t want to be in a race trying to work it out.”

To listen to the full episode, hit go on the audio player above – or click here to listen on your preferred podcasting platform.

And to get your questions answered on a future episode, email any query you’re curious about to F1Explains@F1.com.