If you were to flip through the biggest moments in the Formula 1 history books – tragedy, ecstasy or controversy – Damon Hill is at the centre of many of them.
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Hill → flip → them
The English former F1 driver who claimed the 1996 world championship had an extraordinary career, winning 22 grands prix and racing against titans of the sport including Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna.
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who → claim → Schumacher
There’s a kind of poetic irony to his extensive list of accolades, given it was never actually meant to happen.
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it → ’ → accolades
“I wasn’t born thinking about F1 – I actually never had an ambition to race cars,” Hill tells this masthead with a wry smile and a shake of his head.
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Hill → bear → head
It’s a warm Thursday afternoon, and we are in a meeting room inside Crown Towers with panoramic views of Melbourne’s city skyline.
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we → ’ → skyline
Hill travelled to Australia this month on a speaking tour to promote his eponymous new documentary, Hill, which premieres at the British Film Festival on October 28.
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which → travel → October
The film has everything traditional revheads dream of; nail-biting title fights and archival footage of dramatic crashes.
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revheads → have → crashes
But the core of Hill’s documentary centres around love and grief; exploring the death of his father, Graham, the two-time F1 world champion who tragically died in a plane crash when Damon was just 15.
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Damon → centre → crash
Hill found out about the accident on television and had to leave the living room to tell his mother, triggering “pandemonium and horror”.
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Hill → find → pandemonium
“I remember feeling that I would have liked to be with him on the plane,” Hill says in the documentary.
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Hill → feel → documentary
“I didn’t want to be here, I would have given up or exchanged places with someone else on the plane.”
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I → want → plane
Hill says the process of revisiting painful memories for the documentary was raw, but also necessary.
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process → say → documentary
“I went through quite a long period of reflection when I stopped racing … and I got a chance to talk through lots of stuff that was not dealt with at the time.”
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that → go → time
Hill speaks with remarkable candour about his grief, but also leaves room for humour – joking he’s heard that some airlines who are showing the documentary chose to edit out his father’s plane crash.
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who → speak → crash
“I mean, that’s pretty key to the story,” he says with a laugh.
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he → mean → laugh
“I’m not sure if that’s true...
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that → ’m → ?
but you’re quite welcome to look at all kinds of disaster movies on an aeroplane.
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you → ’re → aeroplane
He also speaks with deep love for his wife, Georgie, who in the film describes a 21-year-old Hill as one of the saddest people she had ever met.
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she → speak → people
“We were kind of brought together through our own experiences,” he says.
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he → bring → experiences
“I think we both understood that there was a missing bit that the other had.”
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other → think → that
Hill had always been besotted with motorbikes, but after his father’s death, the young driver decided to switch paths and pursue an F1 career.
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driver → besotte → career
The 30-year-old signed with Williams as a test driver in 1991, entering into one of the most revered eras of F1 history.
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old → sign → history
For non-F1 aficionados, the crib notes are as follows:
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notes → follow → aficionados
Promoted to a full-time race seat with Williams in 1993, Hill won his maiden grand prix in Hungary and quickly developed an intense rivalry with Schumacher.
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Hill → promote → Schumacher
A pivotal point in his life happened in 1994.
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point → happen → 1994
Revered champion Senna, who had switched to Williams to drive alongside Hill, died after slamming into a concrete wall during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
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who → revere → Imola
Hill said the last funeral he had attended was his father’s, and he agonised over the decision to attend Senna’s.
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he → say → Senna
Encouragement from three-time F1 world champion Jackie Stewart, who told Hill “you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t go”, changed his mind.
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you → tell → mind
Hill attended and was a pallbearer at the funeral.
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Hill → attend → funeral
Hill went on to fight for the world championship, losing to Schumacher by one point in the final race in Adelaide – one of the most controversial races in F1 history.
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Hill → go → history
The pair collided when Schumacher turned in, sending the German’s Benetton into the barrier.
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Schumacher → collide → barrier
With Schumacher out, Hill attempted to continue the race, but was forced to retire after damage to his Williams.
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Hill → attempt → Williams
At the time, commentators declared, “The world championship has literally been torn from his hands”.
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championship → declare → hands
Does hill agree now with the commentators’ sentiments?
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hill → agree → sentiments
“Oh, I’ve let the whole thing go,” he said with a laugh.
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he → let → laugh
“I mean, it seems like another lifetime.
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it → mean → lifetime
I’ve been doing this tour, and so I’m kind of revisiting it all, and I’m trying to explain to the audience how I felt.
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I → do → audience
They want to know, ‘Aren’t you furious? Weren’t you angry?’
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you → want → ?
“First, you can’t carry around anger all the time.”
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you → carry → anger
“I try to put it into context,” he added.
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he → try → context
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
