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Damon Hill: “Bring him on”

13. Jan 2023 
by Ziv Knoll
15823 views

For the 1996 Formula 1 season, David Coulthard left the Williams team to join McLaren, so Frank Williams and Patrick Head replaced him with promising Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, who had won the CART Series title and the Indianapolis 500 in 1995. Damon Hill remained one more year with the team, well decided to have another go at the World Drivers’ Championship.

Damon Hill: “I wasn’t too concerned about who came to Williams, remember I had been understudy to Mansell, team-mate to Alain Prost and taken over as number one after the loss of Ayrton Senna… so you could say I’d been toughened up. I thought ‘bring him on’, and as Jacques was at the top of his game it was another chance for me to tackle someone who was well regarded.”

Just the way Williams liked it: take two good racers with strong characters, no team orders and let the best rule.

Damon Hill became the 1996 Formula One World Champion after finishing twice runner-up the previous years. He won 8 Grand Prix to 4 for Villeneuve and Williams easily captured the World Championship for Makes.

Source: DR

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