Damon Hill

Damon Hill was the 1996 Formula 1 World Champion and the only son of a champion to follow his father to the title, emulating the achievement of his father Graham Hill. A determined and gritty competitor, the Englishman took 22 wins, 20 pole positions and 42 podiums in 116 starts, building one of the most respected careers of the 1990s after a relatively late arrival at the top level.

Hill rose from test driver to Williams race seat in 1993, winning three times in his first full season. He was thrust into a leadership role following Ayrton Senna's death in 1994, carrying the team through a fraught title fight that ended in a controversial collision with Michael Schumacher in Adelaide. After finishing runner-up in 1994 and 1995, he dominated 1996 with eight wins to clinch the championship. He later produced one of the sport's great underdog moments, scoring Jordan's maiden victory at a rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix in 1998 before retiring in 1999.

Hill's championship completed a unique family achievement and made him a national sporting hero in Britain, admired for the perseverance and dignity with which he met some of the most testing circumstances in the sport's history.

Hill was a smooth, consistent and supremely determined driver who extracted the most from the dominant Williams machinery of the mid-1990s while shouldering immense pressure. Thrust into the role of team leader after tragedy, he responded with maturity and resolve. By matching his father's world title he created an unmatched piece of family history, and his hard-won 1996 crown secured his place among Britain's most cherished motorsport champions.