Damon (Graham Devereux) Hill - Personal and early life, Career, Complete Formula One results, Further reading

Motor-racing driver, born in Hampstead, London, UK, the son of Graham Hill. He joined the Williams Formula One team as a test driver in 1991, and drove for Brabham in his first Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1992. He won over 20 grands prix in the next four years, succeeding Nigel Mansell on the Williams team. He took third place in the world championship in 1993, was runner-up in 1994, and won in 1996. The next season he joined the TWR Arrows Yamaha team, and in 1998 drove for the Benson & Hedges Jordan Mugen Honda team. He retired from Formula One racing in 1999.

After three seasons in Formula 3, where he won four races, Hill ascended another tier of open wheel racing by joining Mooncraft in the International Formula 3000 championship, where, although often competitive, he never won a race.

Personal and early life

Hill was born in London on 17 September 1960 to double Formula One world champion Graham Hill, who won his first World Championship two years after Damon's birth, and his wife Bette. In 2002, she began managing the unrelated American racing driver Derek Hill, son of 1961 Formula One World Champion Phil Hill.

Career

Pre-Formula One

Hill started his motorsport career in motorcycle racing in 1983, winning the 350 cc clubman's championship at Brands Hatch, before taking a race car course at the Winfield Racing School in France. Hill then moved up into Formula Three where he raced for three different teams in three years, with a steady first season for Mooncraft in 1986 and brace of wins in each of the following years for Middlebridge Racing and then Intersport. In 1989 Hill progressed to Formula 3000, racing again for Mooncraft and then Middlebridge Racing over the next three years. Although Hill ran at the front with the unfavoured Lola chassis for Middlebridge in 1990 and 1991 - he took three pole positions and led five races in 1990 - he did not win a race during his Formula 3000 career.

Formula One

1992: Brabham

Related Article: Brabham Racing Organisation

Hill was 32, an age by which many drivers have retired from top competition, when he broke into Grand Prix racing with the struggling Brabham team in 1992.

1993–1996: Williams

Related Article: WilliamsF1

1993

When Nigel Mansell left Williams to drive IndyCars in 1993, Hill was promoted to the race team alongside Alain Prost ahead of more experienced candidate Martin Brundle. After four retirements in the first half of the season, as well as a tyre failure while leading the German Grand Prix, the Englishman went on to win three successive races in Hungary, Belgium - where he and Michael Schumacher had a thrilling race - and Italy.

Although Schumacher dominated the early part of the season, Hill came back into contention for the title after winning the British Grand Prix, a race in which his late father had never tasted victory. Coming into the sixth corner Hill moved to the inside to pass the slower moving car and the two collided, breaking the Williams' front left suspension wishbone, and forcing Hill's retirement from the race.

1996

In 1996 the Williams car was clearly the quickest in Formula One and Hill went on to win the title ahead of team-mate Jacques Villeneuve (in his first year in Formula One), becoming the first and only son of a Formula One champion to win the championship himself. Despite winning the title, Hill learned before the season's close that he was to be dropped by Williams in favour of Frentzen for the following season, to the outrage of fans and media alike,, so Hill left Williams as the team's second most successful driver, in terms of race victories, with 21, second only to Nigel Mansell.

1997: Arrows

Related Article: Arrows

As world champion Hill was in high demand, but surprisingly signed to Arrows, a team which had never won a race in its 20 year history and had scored only a single point the previous year.

Notable battles with Michael Schumacher

Hill and Michael Schumacher clashed frequently on the track in the mid 1990s:

Japan 1994: Schumacher led the early stages of the rain-soaked event only for the race to be stopped after Brundle's McLaren crashed. Hill questioned why Schumacher was "suddenly doing nought miles an hour", while a majority of Schumacher fans described it as a "stupid move" by Hill.

Hill also did a famous television advert with Murray Walker for Pizza Hut in the UK, in which Walker commentated on Hill's meal as if it was a race.

As well as his Top Gear appearance, Hill appeared in a number of other TV shows, appearing in an episode of This is Your Life and before taking part in the 1998 French Grand Prix, Hill appeared as a guest on TFI Friday.

In August 2006, Hill was back behind wheel of a single-seater race car, when he took a 600bhp Grand Prix Masters machine for a test run around Silverstone.

In October 2006, Hill opened a new conference facility at the Silverstone Circuit, the facility is part of the Silverstone Innovation Centre, a joint project between the British Racing Drivers Club and the East Midlands Development Agency, "This is a great example of how the BRDC through Silverstone and the East Midlands Development Agency are working together to make a positive contribution to the motorsport business community in this country," Hill said.

During his racing career Hill often played in front of a crowd of Formula One fans at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1992	Brabham	RSA	MEX	BRA	ESP DNQ	SMR DNQ	MON DNQ	CAN DNQ	FRA DNQ	GBR 16	GER DNQ	HUN 11	BEL	ITA	POR	JAP	AUS		Brabham	-	0
1993	Williams	RSA Ret	BRA 2	EUR 2	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 2	CAN 3	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 15	HUN 1	BEL 1	ITA 1	POR 3	JPN 4	AUS 3		Williams	3rd	69
1994	Williams	BRA 2	PAC Ret	SMR 6	MON Ret	ESP 1	CAN 2	FRA 2	GBR 1	GER 8	HUN 2	BEL 1	ITA 1	POR 1	EUR 2	JPN 1	AUS Ret		Williams	2nd	91
1995	Williams	BRA Ret	ARG 1	SMR 1	ESP 4	MON 2	CAN Ret	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 1	BEL 2	ITA Ret	POR 3	EUR Ret	PAC 3	JPN Ret	AUS 1	Williams	2nd	69
1996	Williams	AUS 1	BRA 1	ARG 1	EUR 4	SMR 1	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 1	FRA 1	GBR Ret	GER 1	HUN 2	BEL 5	ITA Ret	POR 2	JPN 1		Williams	1st	97
1997	Arrows	AUS DNS	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 9	FRA 12	GBR 6	GER 8	HUN 2	BEL 13	ITA Ret	AUT 7	LUX 8	JPN 11	EUR Ret	Arrows	12th	7
1998	Jordan	AUS 8	BRA DSQ	ARG 8	SMR 10	ESP Ret	MON 8	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	AUT 7	GER 4	HUN 4	BEL 1	ITA 6	LUX 9	JPN 4		Jordan	6th	20
1999	Jordan	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 4	MON Ret	ESP 7	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 5	AUT 8	GER Ret	HUN 6	BEL 6	ITA 10	EUR Ret	MAL Ret	JPN Ret		Jordan	12th	7

Sporting positions
Preceded by: Michael Schumacher	Formula One World Champion 1996	Succeeded by: Jacques Villeneuve
Preceded by: Jonathan Edwards	BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1996	Succeeded by: Greg Rusedski
Preceded by: Linford Christie	BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1994	Succeeded by: Jonathan Edwards
Preceded by: Jackie Stewart	BRDC President 2006-Present	Succeeded by: Current President

Champions (1990-)*