Damon Hill has the unique accolade in Formula 1 of being one of the few drivers who has won a world championship and whose father also won a title.
The exclusive club is made up of only Hill and his dad Graham Hill, and both Keke and Nico Rosberg who won their titles in 1982 and 2016 respectively.
Hill won his sole title during the 1996 season and was controversially dropped by Williams the following year, meaning he had to take refuge at another team in the form of Arrows.
One of the main reasons cited for Hill being dropped by Williams was the amount of money he wanted in his contract, a claim that Eddie Jordan would make when he signed the Briton to his team in 1998.
However, when speaking on the DRIVER podcast, Hill opens up about what happened and refutes the popular claim that eventually led to him being axed from the team.
Damon Hill did not ask for more money from Williams in 1996
At the time, Hill was reportedly demanding Williams pay him £9.5 million (via The Independent), however, team owner Frank Williams decided to sign Heinz-Harald Frentzen instead for half the money.
Hill refutes the popular claim and explains why he never negotiated to stay with the team, despite achieving their goal of winning a title.
“I raced in 1996 under the impression that if I were to win the world championship, they would want to keep me. And that was an error of judgement really, because plans were made well in advance. It turns out that they had already signed another driver and I hadn’t done that well in 1995, and I think possibly I’d given them the impression that I wasn’t up to winning the world championship,” said Hill.
“It’s possible they took precaution in getting a different driver, they thought they’d have a champion in Jacques Villeneuve in the team. They were right, but they’d signed up [Heinz-Harald] Frentzen.
“They claimed I could’ve stayed if I had not asked for so much money, but I never asked for any money. So I had a lawyer who was negotiating for me, and I had no idea what went on in that negotiation because I wasn’t involved in it.”
Damon Hill races with Arrows for 1997 while Jacques Villeneuve wins title
Hill would go on to race for backmarker team Arrows for the 1997 season, where he would achieve a best finishing position of second at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Briton was leading the race but with three laps left a hydraulic pump failed on his car, causing it to become stuck in third gear. As a result, Hill lost time and was overtaken by eventual race winner Villeneuve.
READ MORE: Damon Hill names the ‘emotional’ part of Formula 1 he still gets a ‘kick’ from
Villeneuve subsequently went on to win the title that season, after a hard-fought battle with Michael Schumacher and a controversial end when the Ferrari driver tried to purposely crash into him.
Schumacher was disqualified for the entire season after the race and had his points stripped, promoting Frentzen to second in the championship ahead of McLaren driver David Coulthard.
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