Damon Hill, F1 driver

Formula 1's long-serving chief legal officer Sacha Woodward Hill is leaving the organisation.Still a practising solicitor, she was originally recruited to join F1 back in 1996 by former supremo Bernie Ecclestone, having previously worked for several well-known legal firms in London.Reflecting several years ago on how she made the step into grand prix racing, she told F1: "As with most things in ...

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Damon Hill says Lando Norris has silenced critics following his first Formula 1 victory in Miami.Speaking ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix, 1996 world champion Hill stated that Norris breaking through at the 110th attempt will have proven a vocal minority who doubted the McLaren driver's credentials wrong.In the races since, Norris finished a close second in Imola, Montreal and Barcelona ...

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The American is hoping to get his Andretti F1 team onto the grid in 2025 at the earliest, having been given approval for an entry by the FIA.However, to be granted a place in F1, Andretti needs to agree commercial terms with FOM – something that is far from guaranteed as the series' chiefs are lukewarm about having an extra team on the grid.With F1's current competitors clearly against having ...

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For the second race in a row, Lewis Hamilton finished as the on-track runner-up to Max Verstappen – although he was later disqualified from the United States GP for finishing with an overly worn plank.Last weekend in Mexico City, he climbed from sixth on the grid to trail the Red Bull winner by 14 seconds. Meanwhile, team-mate George Russell rose two places to classify sixth.While the headline ...

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Renowned auction house RM Sotheby's reckons this is the first time a prize of this type has been offered for public sale and estimates the FIA award will fetch between £25,000 and £35,000.Hill's trophy, rewarding his season-long triumph over Jim Clark while driving for the Bourne-based BRM team, marks the first time a British driver won the F1 crown while driving a British car.It leads an array ...

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The Milton Keynes team has won all eight grands prix so far, with Verstappen claiming six of the victories, and although Hill thinks Mercedes has made a step forward in recent races, he believes the performance gap is still so big that all of Red Bull’s rivals will struggle to catch up without hitting the cost cap limit this year.
“I think Mercedes have turned a corner, but the question is ...

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Unreliability and damage for both Piastri and team-mate Lando Norris in the opening two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have left McLaren bottom of the constructors’ championship and without a point.
Despite this poor opening, 1996 title winner Hill reckons rookie Piastri will not need to worry about a bad run sapping his confidence, even if the Australian is yet to deliver a standout ...

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After a driveshaft failure in qualifying relegated Verstappen to starting 15th in Jeddah, the two-time world champion climbed the order in the race but had to settle for second behind team-mate Perez, who had a free run to pole.
That means Verstappen and Perez head to Australia with one win each and just one point separating them in the standings - with Verstappen grabbing the fastest lap bonus ...

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Both Button and Hill have voiced the opinion that Hamilton could lose interest if he finds himself with an uncompetitive Mercedes for a second consecutive season.
Hamilton’s contract runs out this year and, inevitably, speculation about his long-term plans has already begun, even before the first race of the season.
When asked about the comments made by Button and Hill, Hamilton said ...

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The outfit that, like Ferrari, manufactured its own parts including the engine, scored 17 wins and 11 poles between its world championship debut in the 1951 British Grand Prix and its final proper F1 start, as Stanley BRM, in 1977.
Some of the era?s best drivers appeared for BRM and seven won points-paying races.
For this list Autosport assessed the amount of success the drivers scored ...

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A team that began its time in Formula 1 under controversial circumstances, Arrows? 24-year spell in the championship came to an end in 2002 amid mounting financial problems.
Still the team with the most world championship race starts (counting the Footwork years) under its belt ? at 382 ? without ever taking a victory, Arrows came close to troubling the top step of the podium throughout ...

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Verstappen has won six of the last eight races, helping him to open up a 46-point lead at the top of the drivers? championship over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
The turnaround for Verstappen and Red Bull in the title race has been drastic. After the first three races of the year, Verstappen sat 46 points behind Ferrari?s Charles Leclerc, who is now 49 off the lead to mark a 95-point ...

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The F1 paddock has united to show its support for Hamilton over the past 24 hours after an interview with Piquet surfaced in which he used a racist remark in reference to the Mercedes driver.
Both F1 and the FIA issued statements rebuking Piquet?s comments, while Hamilton said it was ?time for action? to change ?archaic mindsets? within the sport.
Piquet is yet to issue any public ...

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Even the very best of cars can have their areas of weakness, or diva-like tendencies as they have been coined by Mercedes in recent years. But on the 1996 Williams FW18, weak spots were few and far between.
Damon Hill took it to eight wins, nine pole positions and that year?s world championship title, making it a shoo-in for his favourite car. He also achieved a feat matched by only two other ...

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With Red Bull finally capable of mounting a sustained title challenge to the all-conquering Mercedes team, the 2021 season has arguably been the most intriguing campaign in years.
Hamilton and Verstappen are just eight points apart as the 2021 championship is set to go down to the wire in the last two grands prix at Jeddah and Abu Dhabi.
But after collisions between the pair in Silverstone ...

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Williams has been competing at car racing's pinnacle for more than four decades and 16 drivers have won world championship races with the team.
That makes selecting the top 10 Williams F1 drivers a challenge.
For this list we?ve taken into account the amount of success the drivers scored with Williams, the impact they had on the team and the circumstances of their time there. It doesn?t ...

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The incident at the first chicane put both men out of the race, and it came just three races after contact between the pair at Silverstone led to a heavy crash for Verstappen.
By coincidence, Hill himself had collisions with then rival Michael Schumacher at both the British and Italian GPs when they were fighting for the championship in 1995.
He says the rivalry between the current title ...

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Mercedes lost the lead of both F1 world championships on Sunday as Lewis Hamilton brought home its only points in seventh place, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas retiring due to a wheel nut failure.
The result saw Hamilton fall to second place in the drivers? standings behind race winner Max Verstappen, whose victory also helped vault Red Bull to the top of the constructors? ...

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Philip Toll Hill Jr. is perhaps the most under-appreciated World Champion in Formula 1 history, and one wonders if this is simply a result of him being so smart. The wisest people learn not only from their own mistakes but those of others, too, and this Miami-born, Santa Monica-bred guy had witnessed plenty of trauma by the time he reached the top of the motorsport world in 1961. He had long since ...

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Towards the end of his championship-winning 1996 campaign, Hill was informed by Williams that he would not be retained for the following season, with the team opting to sign Heinz-Harald Frentzen as Jacques Villeneuve?s new teammate.
The decision came as a surprise to Hill, and left the British driver with limited options for 1997. He eventually signed for Arrows, who had scored just a single ...

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Graham Hill had got wind that his driving partner for the 1972 Le Mans 24 Hours wasn't best pleased about sharing his Matra with a 43-year-old whose star was fading. So the double Formula 1 world champion, ever the joker, tried to trick Henri Pescarolo.
It was Hill's first test for the French manufacturer, and he decided to play up to his teammate's expectations as he clambered aboard.
The ...

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Next June, Juan Pablo Montoya will make his third attempt at capturing Le Mans glory to add to his Monaco F1 and Indy 500 triumphs, but he'll find it a near-impossible ask in an LMP2 car. And it probably won't be until 2023 that Fernando Alonso, Monaco GP and LM24 winner, gets his fourth attempt to add Indy 500 glory to his r?sum?.
Thus it's almost certain that Graham Hill will hold the ...

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A series of lots donated by drivers, teams and other motorsport insiders was sold via RM Sotheby?s in aid of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The FIA already gave ?1m to the organisation prior to the auction.
Hill personally donated the helmet and overalls that he wore when he won the 1995 Australian GP, and the twin lot achieved a higher price than ...

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F1 bosses are aiming to hold ?15-18? races in the coronavirus-delayed 2020 season, which will get underway with two races at the Red Bull Ring next month.
Even if the latter target is reached, that will still be F1?s shortest season since 2009, which could mean that drivers who are battling for the title taking more risks to get greater results, rather than opting for safer option to bank ...

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Race: 1994 Japanese GP, Suzuka
Car: Williams-Renault FW16B
There are lots of exciting races you have in a career in motor racing, but there are very few that have the same significance as 1994 Suzuka had for me.
With the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, 1994 was a highly stressful and dramatic year. Everything seemed to have much more emphasis. To stay in the championship ...

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