20 years since Hill’s defining moment
Damon Hill has endured dark times since his 1996 world title, but he is back with a smile on his face
The mosquitos, the paper-thin walls and the patter of feet outside his cramped room at the Suzuka Circuit hotel are fresh in Damon Hill’s mind. But it is the immortal words of his dear friend which will live on in the memory of everyone who watched the Englishman win the hearts of the nation 20 years ago.
Then, the last race of the season, Hill’s victory in the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix, was the apotheosis of his career, of closing a tragic chapter in the family two decades on from the death of his father, Graham, in an aeroplane crash. The son became a world champion, too – a feat he guaranteed by winning the race while team-mate Jacques Villeneuve retired – and the sense of release touched everyone, none more so than Murray Walker.
The legendary commentator had known Hill’s father and followed Damon’s entire career. As only he could, Walker found the words to sum up a life’s work in just one sentence as Hill crossed the line to win the world championship at Suzuka. “I’ve got to stop, because I’ve got a lump in my throat,” an audibly emotional Walker said.
Hill is eternally grateful that such an iconic piece of commentary accompanied his finest hour.
The 56-year-old tells The Sunday Telegraph: “It’s wonderful. I feel very fortunate to have had Murray uttering his immortal words. He had an ability to touch that nerve in people, to sum it up in a way that makes everyone understand what it’s all about.
“He was genuinely touched. He had seen this story unfold. He remembered my dad so he knew my whole career story and that’s what my career was about. It was somehow returning from the catastrophe of my dad’s accident to re-establishing ourselves … he alluded to that in his commentary. It was one of those special moments.”
It was a euphoric moment but one tinged with sadness. Hill knew he would not be back in the Williams the following year, having been dropped by the team for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Then began the meandering
final few years of his career with Arrows and Jordan before he retired.
Hill grew his hair, spent time with his family, studied an English degree through the Open University and effectively disappeared from public view for a while. In 2007, he started a charity for children with learning disabilities (Oliver, his eldest son, has Down’s syndrome). He was president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club for five years.
As he describes in his open and honest autobiography to mark 20 years since his title, Watching the Wheels, Hill battled depression. The wounds from his father’s death had not healed. The vacuum left by retirement had prompted introspective analysis of the scar tissue. “I had to go through proper grieving for the loss of my father, too,” he says. “When all this started to unravel, I became acutely aware of how scared I was of dying unexpectedly, just as he had.”
He saw a therapist and has returned to our television screens as a pundit for Sky Sports. The process of writing a book has proved a cathartic one. It has helped him to see Formula One for the good and the bad.
Hill reflects: “There are so many positive and edifying and uplifting and amazing aspects to it, but there are also the rather negative and sometimes less inspiring aspects to it. But that’s life. What I would say is, it’s become much more self-conscious. Sometimes I think it’s trying to hunt for the magic ingredient and it misses the point sometimes in trying to do so. It’s very easy to get cynical when you’re in it.”
The conversation turns to Formula One today, and the man trying to emulate what Hill did; the son of a world champion becoming a world champion himself. Nico Rosberg has his detractors, but Hill is not one of them, especially after a scintillating drive to pole yesterday, eclipsing Hamilton by 13-thousandths of a second, the equivalent of less than three feet on this famous circuit. Regardless of Lewis Hamilton’s chronic misfortune, he believes Rosberg – who before today’s race had 22 victories, like Hill – would be a worthy winner this season.
“It wouldn’t be an injustice if he won the championship at all,” he says. “He’s worked really hard for this. It’s quite obvious he’s really applied himself. He’s just got better and better. It will be interesting to see how he copes with the pressure the closer he gets to his goal.”
Hill did not travel to Malaysia last weekend and is not in Japan for today’s race – a dislike of flying and long-haul travel has kept him away – but he watched Hamilton’s cryptic comments hinting at sabotage with interest.
The Englishman, born in Hampstead, north London, vividly remembers looking over his shoulder at times during his career, trying to make sure his team-mate was not getting preferential treatment. He just might have been more careful with his public pronouncements than Hamilton.
“Lewis has some bad luck this year, more than his fair share,” Hill says. “He was a little bit less than careful with words. The problem is there are a lot of Hamilton supporters who will support him to their dying breath and hang on his every word.
“When you’re racing, you are always looking out for yourself because you have to. You have to make sure you’re getting the right equipment and your team-mate is not getting one over you inside the team. In every team there’s a competition to get the best parts. It’s very easy for those thoughts to come into your head. It’s part of motor racing.”
Hill believes it is far too early to write off Hamilton’s chances, with almost a quarter of the season to go. But the task is a daunting one. Suzuka was the scene of Hill’s two finest drives, in the soaking rain in 1994, and to the championship two years later. Hamilton needs something just as magical for the rest of the year.
‘When everything unravelled, I became aware of how scared I was of dying too soon, like my father did’