1996

Things were frantically busy in the Williams camp during the closed season, as the team and both their drivers put in as much time as was humanly possible to ensure they had the best crack at both Championships in 1996.
Frank Williams had selected IndyCar World Champion Jacques Villeneuve to partner Damon Hill, and with most of the top teams having changed drivers (the most significant being Michael Schumacher's move to Ferrari) it was the two sons of famous racing driving fathers who took their seats in the FW18.

The new Williams was really just an evolution of the previous year's model, modified for better head protection as all the cars had been after Mika Hakkinen's serious qualifying crash at the end of the last season. The other major regulation change saw the two days of qualifying scrapped in favour of an all-or-nothing shoot-out on the Saturday.

Melbourne was the new home for the Australian Grand Prix which was now the opening race as opposed to the closing one. With the track being unfamiliar to everybody it was Jacques Villeneuve who took the first Pole Position of his career, Damon running a close second.
Martin Brundle's Jordan proved the safety of the latest Formula 1 cars as he escaped unscathed from a massive crash and jogged back to the pits to take the restart. The two Williams drivers sped off into the distance and showed that all the effort over the winter had been worth it as Villeneuve led Hill. But we were to witness an incredibly mature drive from Damon as he avoided taking risks yet at the same time kept right behind his team-mate, putting on the pressure continuously.
His tactics paid off as Villeneuve made a mistake going into one of the chicanes. Skilfully managing to get back onto the track and stay ahead of Damon, the Canadian's maiden win was postponed as he was forced to slow dramatically five laps from the end when a warning light came on in his cockpit. His undertray had been damaged when he'd gone over the kerbs, and oil from a broken pipe had been spraying out, threatening not only Jacques' chances of finishing but also Damon's, who had been slowly coated in oil for the last part of the race.
Damon overtook his team-mate who managed to make it to the finish for a Williams 1-2. It was the perfect result that everyone had hoped for - both the team and Damon had scored maximum points, and Villeneuve had shown his potential with a strong second place.

The next round of the Championship was in Brazil, and Damon claimed Pole Position by nearly a second over Rubens Barrichello. Villeneuve could only manage third after pushing too hard at the end of qualifying and spinning off.
The race itself started in what could only be described as a tropical thunderstorm. Damon drove a perfect race in the appalling conditions, changing back to slick tyres at exactly the right moment, although his hard work nearly came to nothing when Barrichello spun in front of him. Villeneuve was less fortunate, spinning off on lap 27 whilst trying to defend his position from Jean Alesi. Although Jacques' performance was commendable due to very limited wet-weather experience, the star of the weekend was Damon, who crushed his opposition by taking Pole, Fastest Lap, and a dominant Race Victory.

The season continued in South America a week later for the Argentinian Grand Prix. Damon took Pole with only three minutes to go despite being in some discomfort from stomach problems he'd had since the Friday.
Come the race Damon was again in a league of his own, despite his illness and a fault with the radio which meant he had to rely solely on the pit-boards. Villeneuve had made a bad start which saw him down in ninth, and he had clawed his way back up to 5th when the safety car came out after a couple of nasty looking (but separate) incidents for Luca Badoer and Pedro Diniz. This permitted the Canadian to close right up to Gerhard Berger (who he had been trailing by over 45 seconds), although it wasn't such good news for his team-mate who had opened up a comfortable gap over Michael Schumacher.
There was no need to worry - Damon stormed away on the restart, and after Schumacher and Berger went out with mechanical problems and Jean Alesi dropped down the order after stalling during his final pit-stop, Villeneuve found himself in second for another Williams 1-2.
Damon had scored maximum points in all three races, and including the last race of 1995 he'd won four in a row, his personal best winning streak, and only one short of the record.

Having qualified on Pole for the European Grand Prix with Villeneuve beside him, there was a general consensus that the race would be a fore-gone conclusion for Damon, but sadly it wasn't. A poor start dropped him down to 5th, and after overtaking Schumacher going into the first corner Damon struggled to pass Barrichello's Peugeot-powered Jordan which had the measure of him on the straights.
This however was just the beginning. Without warning Damon's car suddenly began to handle very differently, giving him the impression of a puncture. He stayed out until his first pit-stop where the team had a good look over the car but couldn't see anything amiss. The extra-long stop had delayed him further, but disaster was to strike again when Damon tried to pass Diniz, only for the Ligier driver to slam the door shut at the last minute. Damon was forced onto the gravel, losing him even more time.
As it was he bravely managed to catch up to former team-mate David Coulthard who was in third place, and despite giving it his all he couldn't find a way past and so missed a podium place by a whisker. Villeneuve meanwhile had lead from start to finish to claim his first Grand Prix win, holding out under intense pressure from Schumacher who finished second in front of his home crowd.

Qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix showed that Ferrari was beginning to make its comeback as Schumacher took Pole by just 0.2 seconds from Damon.
The start of the race saw Coulthard make one of his legendary starts and he led until the first round of pit-stops. Damon meanwhile had wisely allowed Schumacher (who he had over-taken at the start) through as he was running very heavy on fuel and needed to preserve his tyres and brakes. It was a decision which reflected the new more mature Damon that had emerged after he'd had a "talk with himself" prior to the final race of 1995.
His choice of holding a steady third place paid off when combined with the rather bizarre but effective tactic of the Williams team to delay their first stop until half-distance. A strong 'middle' segment and a fast final pit-stop meant a cruise to the line for Damon and his fourth win of the season.

Qualifying means everything on the tight twisty track at Monaco where over-taking is next to impossible, and the layout seemed to suit the Ferrari as Schumacher took his second Pole of the season with Damon right beside him.
Damon was the only driver to have finished every race so far and after making a perfect start and leading into the first corner it would seem that this record would continue. Sadly it didn't.
Having opened up a massive gap over the rest of the field, Damon's hopes of ending his Monaco 'jinx' were thwarted when his engine blew coming out of the tunnel just after half distance. He wasn't the only one to suffer bad luck though - the race only saw three finishers, Olivier Panis taking his maiden Grand Prix win ahead of David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert.

The two Williams completely dominated qualifying in Spain, Damon's Pole Position time being fractionally under a second faster than Schumacher's third place.
The race wasn't to be such a walk-over. It rained start to finish and only a third of the field made it to the chequered flag. Damon's day ended when he spun for the third time in the terrible conditions, victory going to Schumacher who took his first win for Ferrari in a masterful drive. True he had been the only one to gamble on a full wet-weather set-up, but that did little to detract from the fashion in which he won.

It was yet another Williams front-row in Canada although Villeneuve was much closer to Damon this time who beat his team-mate by only two hundredths of a second.
The race was just as close, as the blue and white cars once again disappeared into the distance. As there wasn't anything to chose between doing a one- and two-stop race the team put Damon and Jacques on alternate strategies so that there wouldn't be the situation that arose in Australia where one driver was forced to follow behind the other.
After the final round of pit-stops it was Damon who ended up in the lead, resisting pressure at his team-mate's home Grand Prix to win the race. The half-way point of the season had been reached, and Damon had won five out of the eight races.

The French Grand Prix would see another fine scrap for Pole, but this time it was Schumacher who claimed it by a narrow margin over Damon. In the end it turned out to be academic when the German's engine blew on the parade lap, forcing him out before the race had even started. Damon claimed his sixth win of the season with relative ease as he led home a Renault 1-2-3-4 on their home soil. He was now leading the Championship by a massive 25 points and was looking very strong indeed.

And so onto the British Grand Prix, where considering his recent form and a superb sixth Pole of the season Damon was surely to win. Not so.
A poor start saw the Englishman drop to 5th, and he had caught up to third-placed Mika Hakkinen when disaster struck. He'd been getting strange sensations from the car for the last 4 laps, and on lap 27 the cause revealed itself as his car spun off under braking, a loose wheelnut being the culprit.
Villeneuve won the race and with Damon failing to score his lead in the Championship had been dramatically reduced.

Qualifying for the German Grand Prix was breath-taking as fastest laps were traded back and fourth between Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton and - of course - Williams. But with just seconds to spare it was Damon Hill who crossed the line fastest to beat Schumacher's time by over half a second in what he called his "best Pole ever". Just to add insult to injury Berger completed his lap just moments later to push the German back onto the second row of the grid in front of his home crowd, although he couldn't match Damon's sub-1:44 time.
And so on to what promised to be a very exciting race. And it was, as after making another bad start Damon got his head down and began to set fastest lap after fastest lap. His final pit-stop got him out ahead of Jean Alesi but it wasn't enough for him to catch Berger, which a few laps later he did. Piling on the pressure all the time it looked as if Damon would have to settle for second, but then with just three laps to go Berger's engine blew up spectacularly, which although scuppered another Renault 1-2-3-4 it did give Damon another valuable 10 points.
With the 20th win of his Grand Prix career Damon had equalled Michael Schumacher's tally but, more importantly, he had once again opened up a comfortable gap between himself and his team-mate in the Driver's Championship.

Qualifying was again close as Schumacher claimed his fourth Pole of the year at Hungary, just 53 thousandths of a second ahead of the number 5 Williams.
Damon's poor getaway could not be blamed on driver error this time as he had started on the dirty side of the track, and like all the others on that side had suffered poor grip. Having been held up by Jean Alesi's slower Benetton in the opening stages and after failing to get past at his first pit-stop Damon actually overtook the Frenchman and then began to pull away at a remarkable pace which again saw him claim the fastest race lap - the 19th of his career. His speed was sufficient for him to close up to and pass Michael Schumacher on his second pit-stop, but even at this rapid rate it looked unlikely that he would be able to catch his team-mate who was leading the race.
That was until Villeneuve's final stop where the team had problems fitting a wheel. Damon closed right up behind the Canadian and although he couldn't get past he crossed the line a mere 0.771 seconds behind him.
The fifth Williams 1-2 of the season gave the team its record 8th Constructors Championship (and the 4th since Damon had been on board), but also meant that the Driver's Championship could now only be won by either Damon or Jacques.

The legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit saw Damon and Jacques swapping fastest laps during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. With Damon having tried a less successful car set-up on his third run he was ready to go out for a final attempt when the heavens opened, giving Villeneuve his second Pole Position of the year.
The outcome of the race was decided more by luck and bad-management when Schumacher's first pit-stop coincided with a full-course yellow and the Williams team suffered communications problems which saw Jacques' and Damon's stops ruined. Schumacher took the win, with the two team-mates finishing second and fifth respectively.

Between the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix it was confirmed by Williams that Heinz-Harald Frentzen (who had compared favourably with Michael Schumacher when the two had been team-mates in their pre-F1 days) would be driving along side Jacques Villeneuve for the 1997 season. Naturally this upset Damon who had been led to believe that he would be staying with the team, and at Monza he was out to prove a point.
This he did by claiming a superb Pole Position and blasting away at the start, aggressively regaining first place and then defending it from Jean Alesi who too had made a good one. Things were looking promising for Damon after Villeneuve had clipped a tyre-barrier and was struggling lower down the field. If he could finish the race 7 points ahead of the Canadian he would claim the title there and then. It wasn't to be.
On the 6th lap having opened up a commanding lead Damon too connected with the tyres, damaging his front suspension and spinning him out of the race. He wasn't the only one to fall victim to the last-minute safety measures but some were more fortunate than others. Michael Schumacher was one of them as he got away with a momentary loss of concentration and claimed his third win of the season.
All was not lost for Damon though - Jacques could only manage seventh and with the gap between them remaining the same Damon was actually in a stronger position than he had been at the start of the weekend.

And so on to Portugal where the two Williams drivers were separated by just 9 thousandths of a second as Damon took the 20th Pole Position of his career.
The race was looking good for the Englishman as he made another good start and Villeneuve dropped down to fourth. But the Canadian had in an all-or-nothing attempt chosen an IndyCar-style set-up, which actually suited the track very well and allowed him to pull off some remarkable passes.
Villeneuve had to finish ahead of Damon if he were to have any chance of winning the Championship, and with his pace and slightly faster pit-stops he was able to do this. Damon meanwhile had been forced to nurse his car home a distant second after suffering clutch problems.

Shortly after the Portuguese Grand Prix Damon made the announcement that he would be driving for the Arrows team in 1997. Although bottom of the Constructors Championship they had been taken over by Tom Walkinshaw around mid-season and all the effort had been put into developing the car for the next year. Walkinshaw was the man responsible for making Benetton what they are and for the improvements seen at Ligier, and although the prospects for Damon would not be as good as with Williams it would at least give him the opportunity to do more development work and allow him to express himself more as part of the team.
Without the added burden of worrying about the future Damon was able to concentrate fully on the job at hand and wasn't particularly bothered when he lost Pole Position for the Japanese Grand Prix to his team-mate.
Jacques had an appalling start (and later ploughed off into retirement, his right-rear wheel coming adrift when he was running a distant fourth) as Damon having made his best of the season streaked away to win a superbly-controlled race.

With his 8th victory in a season which saw him score 97 points, 5 fastest laps and a record 16 front-row starts (including 9 Pole Positions), Damon claimed that which he had fought so long and hard for and thoroughly deserved. He was World Champion.