DAMON HILL

IF YOU’RE EVER FACED WITH someone complaining about a single team dominating F1, then remind them that such situations have occurred nearly as often as they haven’t. In 1996 the driver pairing of Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve took 12 victories from the available 16 races, making the FW18 one of the team’s most successful chassis. And it was the Brit who had the upper hand, scoring eight of those wins and revelling in the FW18’s reliability, strong Renault engine and Newey-designed aerodynamics. Few will forget Murray Walker’s lump-in-throat moment as Hill – always something of an underdog, supporting Prost in ’93, leading the team after Senna’s death in ’94, and narrowly losing out to Schumacher that same season – took his only title in Japan. Tough times followed, but Hill and Williams did everything they needed to in 1996.