Michael Schumacher had doubts whether he could race on without fear following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.
The seven-time world champion was behind Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix when the Brazilian crashed at over 130mph at the Tamburello corner which claimed his life at the age of 34.
At the time Senna was revered as the greatest driver in the sport and his death had a profound impact on Schumacher who looked like he was on course for a titanic scrap with the Brazilian for that year's championship.
Michael Schumacher (third from right) feared for his own life after the death of Ayrton Senna
Senna (pictured) and Schumacher were set to have a titanic battle for the 1994 F1 world title
However, the legendary Brazilian died after crashing out at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix
Netflix has released the documentary 'Schumacher' which features an interview early into the German's career where he talks about how Senna's crash impacted him.
He said: 'It was two hours after the race where (engineering director) Mr (Tom) Walkinshaw came up to me after the race and said it's looking very bad. I said "no he's in a coma but a coma doesn't mean anything bad". He said "no it doesn't look too good". And then someone came to me later and said "he's dead".
'I still didn't believe he'd be dead, I couldn't think of that. That point I was like "no, he's going to be the champion". He maybe misses one or two races and then comes back again. The worst was really the two weeks after this as I had to accept he was dead.'
When asked whether it was 'easy to drive again' following the death of the Williams driver he added: 'Silverstone, I went there (afterwards) and suddenly you see things with different eyes.
Schumacher won the championship that year after a controversial collision with Damon Hill
'I went through Silverstone in a road car and just thought "this is a point you could be dead, this is another point you could be dead".
'I thought "crazy you always raced here but there are so many points you can crash and you can be immediately dead" that was the only thing I was thinking of.
'I didn't know what was going to be the situation if I was going to be in the race car.
'I wasn't sure can I drive without thinking that or I'm going to drive now always thinking "now you can be dead here, if you go off here it's going to be bad" and that was something very strange.
'I wake up during the night and I'd sleep maybe three hours a night things like this.'
The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix is remembered as one of the most tragic weekends in the sport's history with fellow driver Roland Ratzenberger also dying in a crash the day before Senna.
Netflix has released a documentary giving an intimate portrait of Schumacher's life
