Was he the greatest british f1 driver ever in your opinion? I think he was just rather lucky to be in the right place at the right time when williams were so dominant in the 90's

im not sure what to answer here, i think for sure he was a very good driver, because regardless of the car it still needs a world class driver driving it to win the world championship, but as for the best british driver ever, i think maybe jackie stewart or nigel mansell

i agree with total12.. he was a great driver without a doubt.. but i dont think he was the best british driver ever

I personally think Damons finest hours were at the Hungaroring. Especially in the underpowered Arrows. He swept past a multi world champion and all in front of him. Only to be robbed by a gearbox problem on the last lap. This race alone answered any doubts i may have had about Damons racing ability. He really should've been a double world champion too. I watched Schumacher take him out in Australia quite deliberately and get away with it. Staggering !! Schumacher was clearly going to be a world champion of the future. But i dont think he should've been allowed to cheat his way to that one. Personally i think the authorities failure to deal with a blatant disregard of racing rules set the sport back several years. Same with the prost/Senna debacle. Very poor. Great drivers in a way. But rules are the same for everyone aren't they. Such manouvres should have seen them thrown out of a sport i love. No driver is bigger than F1 itself. How they could have so blatantly driven in such a manner is incomprehensible to me. They Weren't kids. Tarnished records remain. Memories of great driving too. But i think they should've been thrown out of F1.

Hill was good, not spectacular, a solid driver

But without doubt the greatest British F1 driver has got to be Jim Clark

Even I won't pretend Damon was the greatest British driver of all time, and I am a MASSIVE Damon Hill fan. He is my favourite driver of all time, if not the greatest.

Mansell, Clark, G.Hill, Moss, probably Hamilton soon as well. Damon was very good, but not the stuff of legends. Damon won in the best car in a year where alot of his main rivals were uncompetitive. Could he have won the championship with Schumacher in a strong car? Possible, for sure, but much harder.

His performance in Hungary alone though in '97 demonstrates that he was very good though. Way above average that's for sure, and however good the car is - you HAVE to be damn good to win the DC.

I'm also a huge fan, and he must have had something in him for Frank Williams to put him in race seat in 93. But he wouldn't have won anything in 1993 if he 't in the Williams. In the half of 1994, Hill did nothing to write home about, all because the Williams was a terrible car (it only got 3 poles because of Senna). Hill became competative after the team had sorted out the car.

Hungary 1997, as good as it was to see Hill back up front, a lot of the performance was down to the Bridgestones that Arrows were using at the time. Same with Spa in 1998, Hill was just in the right place at the right time, because Michael Schumacher was long gone in that race before hitting Coulthard.

All that said, the record books will always say: Damon Hill Formula 1 World Champion.

I remember when Hill announced he was leaving Arrows in 1997, Ron Dennis tried to get him at McLaren for 1998, but he went to Jordan. But if he'd have taken the pay cut and gone to McLaren...Hill in that 1998 McLaren, it would've been good

I'd heard that the McLaren offer was quite half-hearted; Ron was going to pay him a flat fee of $1m, with a points scoring related bonus scheme. It wasn't that attractive a proposal (though I'd not have turned it down!), so Hill went to Jordan instead.

As for the question of Hill's ability, I don't think he was the best of all time; he had his moments, yes, but the Williams helped him a great deal. He was a good driver, but wasn't in the same league as Stewart, Mansell or Clark. I was pleased when he won the title, though, he deserved it.

Cheers, everybody,
SmashTV

Having a famous motor-racing father could be seen as more of a hindrance than a help and Damon Hill certainly never traded on his father Graham’s success on his way to his own.

Damon best ever? Never in a million years IMO. For me Damon was a very good driver, but a long way away from being great. I reckon that several drivers from the same era (Berger, Alesi etc.) would have achieved the same sort of success given the Williams that Damon drove. Of course it's generally agreed that his old man was never the most naturally gifted driver in the world. Graham had to work damned hard to achieve what he did.

But Damon did what all good driver's do, he made the most of the position he found himself in following the passing of Senna. There's a history of decent (but not great) drivers doing this and winning the world championship. I would put the following in this category;
Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Denis Hulme, James Hunt, Keke Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve, maybe even (whisper it) Jenson Button .
All very good drivers who were capable of the odd world class display (Keke's qualifying lap at Silverstone in 85), but not consistently GREAT drivers.

It just goes to show that, whilst winning the world championship is the be-all and end-all for any F1 driver, it isn't neccassarily an automatic sign of greatness................ Just ask Stirling Moss .

I think Mansell drove with the most heart!

Agree 100% with that

Not to mention a BIG right foot .

Damon Hill the greatest British driver ever ? Perhaps after 13 gallons of Stella, but not before !

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