Farewell Damon!
We bid Damon farewell on his retirement from a great career.
by Michael Bass
[ Early Years | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | Retires | Statistics ]
One-time world champion Damon Hill is to compete his last race of his career this weekend in Japan and on behalf of his fans worldwide and myself, I have written a tribute to bid him farewell.
I will reflect on Damon's early years starting during the days of his motorbike racing interest right through to his last year in F1.
The Early Years
Born on the 17th September 1960, Damon grew up with surroundings of motorsport - as his father, two-time world champion and Graham Hill, was a successful driver.
Despite meeting top drivers at the time such as Jim Clark and Stirling Moss in his childhood, and watching his father race at Grand Prix, Damon was not at all impressed. He described Formula One as "boring adult stuff", which later on in life, he deeply disagrees with.
Damon did not start his racing career like any other driver starting in karts - he took a different route and turned to motor cycling for enjoyment.
He was treated to a spin on a 50cc Honda motorbike at the young age of 11 at Silverstone. Damon was so impressed that he asked his father for a motorbike of his own, and an advertisement in a motor cycle magazine was enough to make up his father's mind. Damon's real enthusiasm came after his father gave him the chance to try out his 350cc Bultaco off-road bike.
Damon's serious bike-racing career came 6 years after his father's death in 1981. At the age of 21, Damon took on a job as a motorcycle despatch rider to earn money to fund his racing. It was a very hectic schedule that it barely left him enough time to race.
Damon's low funds forced him to concentrate on just one racing track in 1984, that being Brands Hatch. His efforts paid off however, with a score of over 40 wins here he became known as the "Champion of Brands" before turning to Formula Ford 1600. His efforts gave him a fifth position in the end-of-term Formula Ford Festival. He was shortly voted "Best Newcomer", and this along with his good results, at least one first place, helped him find the chance to race a full season in Formula Ford in 1985.
Getting the chance to race against future f1 drivers, he won six races, finishing overall third in the Esso FF1600 and overall fifth in the Townsend Thoreson Championships, and also with third place in the Formula Ford Festival, it promotes a good future for this young, talented racing driver.
Normally, the correct path is to progress from FF1600 to FF2000 and then to Formula 3, but Damon bypassed the 2000 series and went straight into F3. It was a risk that did not work out on Damon's behalf.
After experiencing sponsorship problems, Damon finished overall ninth in the British Formula 3 Championship in 1986.
The next season raised Damons hopes as he won two races and finished overall fifth, and in 1988, he won the British Grand Prix support race and he then went on to finish overall third in the championship. Damon then stuck with Formula 3 for three years and he urgently wanted to move up to Formula 3000.
Then came Damon's marriage to his devoted wife Georgie, and during 1989, things were looking bleak and he couldn't find the money needed to fund a drive in the European F3000 Championship, and was unable to race in this and was forced to settle for a few paid drives in the British F3000 series, Le Mans, and the British Touring Car Championship. His lucky break came when the Japanese Footwork team offered him a paid driver in the International F3000 series.
The problem with this however, is that the car was next to useless. Damon still managed to qualify this car for every race. It was his impressive qualifying at Spa that caught the many people's eyes, and got them wondering exactly what Damon was capable of doing in a competitive car, and in 1990 he took yet another step further and moved to the Middlebridge team.
An advantage that was to highlight Damon's career was that he was leading over half of the races he took part in 1990. Most of his starts were from the front row of the grid and three of them were pole positions. Many mechanical retirements meant Damon's best result was a second place finish at Brands Hatch.
1991 fast approached and he continued to drive his heart out, despite the fact that his F3000 car was worse than the previous year, but more often than not, Damon was being beaten by the competition. Damon's determination and speed saw him as the only driver to lead a race in an under-powered Lola and finally drive to finish an overall seventh.
This caught the eye of Frank Williams and decided to offer Damon a contract as a Williams test driver taking on the role of Mark Blundell.
Damon was a perfect fit for the team and impressed all that worked for Williams. Some say that it was Damon who transformed the car in favour of Nigel Mansell who eventually led the Williams to a championship win. Damon was often lapping other drivers on the track, and only 'top drivers' only have the ability to do so.
1992
Damon carried on testing for Williams during the season of 1992. He also got the opportunity to drive for the Brabham F1 team.
Financial difficulties meant that Damon was under difficult circumstances but was the sort of driver Brabham needed. Damon was chosen for the job because Brabham were looking for someone that would perform greatly during financial troubles without complaining - and Damon was their man.
Damon made his f1 debut at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1992. It was demoralising for him to see Nigel Mansell lap him in the car that Damon helped to develop.
Damon finished the race in 16th position and he took the car home to finish 11th at the Hungarian Grand Prix - Brabham's last race.
Nigel Mansell claimed the championship in 1992 and Alain Prost was signed up for 1993, and having experienced him at Ferrari, Mansell moved to the American IndyCar series. Riccardo Patrese joined Benetton, which left a spare seat available at Williams - and Damon went for it.
Damon's maturity began to increase considerably as a driver in 1992, which impressed all at Williams, so they gave him a drive. Damon soon told the press not to expect too much of him, but sadly they billed him as the next Nigel Mansell.
1993
Damon was offered a drive with Williams and he competed in his first full season partnering Frenchman Alain Prost. Damon drove some great races and clearly learnt a lot from his experience. He claimed 3 wins and 2 pole positions throughout the season of 1993.
1994
Damon completed his second full season with Williams in an incredible season filled with both tragedy, from the death's of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, and enjoyment clearly enjoying his drive for Williams. Damon worked extremely hard and scored a total of 91 points for his effort. He also claimed 6 wins, and 2 pole positions throughout the 1994 season. Damon was just one point away from winning the championship, after the controversial Adelaide collision.
1995
1995 belonged to Benetton and Michael Schumacher as it did last season. Damon and Williams had a lot to think about during the off-season break. The season was not a complete failure for Damon, he got 4 wins, 7 pole positions, and 4 fastest laps - which he never had achieved before. Damon also scored 69 points, which was not clearly as many points as he was able to score last season. However, Damon learnt some valuable lessons.
1996
Things were getting very hectic at Williams during the off-season, all of the Williams employees put in as much work into the cars as possible. Frank Williams signed up IndyCar champ Jacques Villeneuve, bringing in yet another successful formula one driver to be. The most significant move made during this time was Michael Schumacher moving from Benetton to Ferrari partnering ex-Jordan driver Eddie Irvine.
1997
Damon expected the 1997 season to be difficult as he moved from Williams to less-developed Arrows after his fabulous 1996 victory. Damon's choice was limited and so decided to move to Arrows partnering Pedro Diniz. Many critics of Damon said he was only world champion because he drove a Williams…
Needless to say, Damon did not have a very good season with Arrows. Retirements from 9 races and a plague of technical problems could only award Damon with a lowly 13th position in the final table with just 7 points.
1998
The 1998 brought a new look to formula one with new drivers, new teams, new colours, and new rules all helped to made f1 a different year from previous years.
Damon moved to Jordan, no-one knew what to expect but one thing's for sure: it was certainly a mixed season. Jordan did not score any points during the first half of the 1998 season, but a Jordan 1-2 victory at Spa was a boost for the team, with Damon winning that race. Jordan finished 4 points behind rival team Williams in the final constructors championship table.
1999
Damon was signed up for another year with Jordan, partnering ex-Williams driver Heinz-Harold Frentzen. Damon was in demand for many TV shows, and he was honoured to star on "This Is Your Life" as his father was many years ago.
The Jordan 199 looks competitive - with most points coming from Frentzen, as sadly Damon has only scored 7 points to date!
Damon's Retirement
After much reflection, Damon has decided to retire from formula one after the end of the 1999 season. I have to admit it's a shame, it will be a great shame to see Damon go, but let's just hope Damon can drive a great race this weekend and I'm sure he can!
Damon Hill's a great bloke! Well done Damon!
Statistics from 1993 to 1996
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Article is written by and copyright (c) 1999 Michael Bass.
Michael is a reliable, kind and generous chap, who enjoys school to a reasonable extent. He is working hard to gain A-levels and start a career as a newspaper journalist. His hobbies include Formula One, photography, writing and bike riding, to name a few.
Views expressed in these articles do not necessarily coincide with the views of the F1 Rumors Team.
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