DAMON HILL’S TOP 10 F1 DRIVES
10 1994 SPANISH GP
BARCELONA WILLIAMS FW16 (1ST)
“Victory for Damon lifts Williams,” said Autosport’s headline for the 1994 Spanish GP report. Just as Graham Hill had picked up the beleaguered Lotus team following the death of Jim Clark in 1968 with victory in Spain, so Damon scored an emotional success in the 1994 edition.
Michael Schumacher arrived at Barcelona undefeated that season, with Williams still reeling from the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola. The early stages were familiar, Schumacher leading from pole, with Hill unable to stay with the Benetton.
But shortly after his first stop, Schumacher started suffering with a gearbox issue, eventually getting stuck in fifth. Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren and Hill overtook the Benetton before Schumacher found a way to lap competitively.
Hill and Hakkinen had duelled in the early laps and the Finn got ahead during the first pitstops, but he was on a three-stop strategy and Hill on a two.
After the McLaren’s final visit on lap 45 of 65, Hakkinen was 9.5 seconds behind the Williams, with the two-stopping Schumacher in between.
Although he edged towards Schumacher, Hakkinen could not match Hill’s pace before the McLaren’s Peugeot engine blew with 17 laps to go. Hill was left to take a popular win, 24.2s ahead of the brilliant Schumacher.
“In recent weeks I think we’ve all found it difficult to keep things going, but Damon has probably had the hardest time of all, and I think he’s shown what a strong man he is,” said team boss Frank Williams. “We needed a win for a million reasons – and number one was to honour Ayrton Senna.”
“That was probably one of my most important races,” Hill told Autosport in 2014. “It showed that I could be the lead driver. Ultimately, you have got to be able to win races and we got a win in quite early, only a couple of races after Imola. For morale, it was so important. And it also made me believe in myself as being able to carry the load.”
9 1993 ITALIAN GP
MONZA WILLIAMS FW15C (1ST)
After his surprise graduation to a coveted Williams race seat for 1993, Hill took
