1993

Nigel Mansell had won the 1992 Championship by crushing his opposition, however Frank Williams had signed Alain Prost for 1993 and having experienced him as a team-mate at Ferrari Mansell left Williams for the American IndyCar series. With Riccardo Patrese joining Benetton, there was a spare seat up for grabs - and Damon wanted it.
Damon had matured considerably as a driver in 1992, and it was enough to impress the team to give him the drive. Damon was quick to tell the press not to expect too much of him (he was after all racing along side the driver who had won the most Grands Prix ever), but sadly they billed him as The Next Nigel Mansell.

Damon wasn't prepared for the intense media interest in him. All he wanted to do was get on with the job of learning to be a full-time Grand Prix driver, so 1993 was quite a culture-shock to him, and a year of considerable stress and pressure.

The first race of the season was the South African Grand Prix. Prost started from Pole Position, with Damon qualifying in a very respectable fourth. The Frenchman had a slow start which saw Ayrton Senna take the lead.... and Damon take second. It wasn't to last. Following too closely behind the Brazilian's McLaren, Damon learnt a vital lesson in the second corner when he lost the downforce on his front wing and spun. The rest of the field somehow managed to avoid him, but he was later taken out of the race when Allesandro Zanardi tried an over-ambitious overtaking manoeuvre in his Lotus.

The next race was in Brazil, Senna's home turf. Rain caught out Prost (who had taken Pole) and Damon finished second behind the McLaren, scoring his first World Championship points and proving he could cope with the tricky conditions and dice with the best of them.

The European Grand Prix again saw mixed conditions, and witnessed perhaps the best performance ever from Senna who totally outclassed the rest of the field. Damon finished second ahead of a lapped Prost, whose distaste for the wet clearly showed.

As in the opening race, Damon was to lead again in San Marino. Brake problems saw Hill retire, however the main topic of the weekend was an exchange of words between him and Senna. Ayrton accused Damon of bad driving, to which Damon replied that he was only doing what he had seen the Brazilian do.

Having been denied it at Imola, Damon nearly had Pole again in Spain, but Prost called upon all his speed and experience to take it away from him. The same situation occurred during the race with Prost taking Hill for the lead. Damon was right on the Frenchman's tail but was forced into retirement with a piston failure in his engine with only 25 laps to go. Hill's performance was commended by his team-mate, who voiced his concern as to whether he would have been able to fend Damon off for the remainder of the race.

Monaco saw Prost penalised for an alleged jump-start, and Senna romped home for his record 6th win at the track, beating Graham Hill's previous tally by one. His son finished second on this occasion, showing another strong performance despite being nudged into a spin by Gerhard Berger.

Qualifying second in Canada behind Prost, Hill's good getaway would come to nothing when he was overtaken by his team-mate later on in the lap. Having fended off pressure from behind by Senna, Damon's race was blighted by a slow pitstop - the team had mistakenly fitted a set of Prost's tyres and were forced to take them off and replace them. Damon finished third behind Michael Schumacher after Senna had retired.

Damon claimed the first Pole Position of his career in France, and finished only three-tenths of a second behind Prost, team orders from Renault having declared that the Frenchman win on his home soil.

The national media went crazy at the prospect of a home-win for Damon at the British Grand Prix, a race that his father had never won. Again Damon was pipped for pole by Prost, and had led the race from the start when an engine failure robbed him of victory with 18 laps to go. Prost went on to win.

And so on to Germany, where fate was even crueller. Again getting a better start than his team-mate who was on Pole, Damon led all race but then with less than two laps to go suffered a puncture. Prost went on to take the 51st victory of his career, with Damon ending up classified in 15th having failed to make it to the pits.

Hill was as fired up as could be in Hungary. Prost stalled his engine on the grid, forcing him to start from the back of the field and effectively giving Damon pole. Driving a faultless race, he took his maiden Grand Prix victory, becoming the first second-generation driver to win a race since the World Championship had begun in 1950.

Damon's next race in Belgium saw another win, as he brilliantly defended attacks from both Schumacher and Prost in the closing stages. His victory secured Williams' sixth Constructors Championship.

Italy completed a hat-trick of wins when his team-mate who had been leading retired with an engine failure. Damon had been in a very strong position at the time, making up for a bad start and a tangle with Senna which had seen him relegated down the field, so it was a deserved win. He had after all seen his fair share of bad luck earlier in the season.

Damon took Pole at Portugal, and the possibility of him snatching the title from Prost looked promising. This time however it was Hill who was forced to start from the back when his engine failed to fire up. Benetton driver Michael Schumacher went on to take the second win of his career ahead of Prost and Hill, the latter having fought his way back up the field brilliantly. With his six points for second, the Frenchman took his fourth World Championship.

Another brilliant performance in wet weather saw Senna win in Japan, Prost finishing second and Hill fourth behind Mika Hakkinen. Senna won again in Australia, the result moving him above Hill in the Drivers Championship and McLaren ahead of Benetton in the Constructors Championship. Prost finished the race second and Damon third.

In his first full Formula 1 season Damon had scored 69 World Championship points, three wins, and two Pole Positions. Finishing third in the Championship, he was bettered only by Prost and Senna, arguably the best drivers at that time.