1997

The 1997 season was always going to be tough for Damon as he like Schumacher before him moved to a lesser team after his Championship victory.
True, Damon's choice was limited due to the lack of seats and unwillingness of teams to grow accustomed to a new driver, but while some wrote off his chances at Arrows others saw it as an opportunity for Damon to once and for all silence the critics who claimed he was only successful due to driving a Williams.

The winter saw Damon relax a little as he received numerous awards from the motor industry, press, public and even the Queen of England. But the well-deserved break soon came to an end when testing of the new Arrows A18 began. With a mostly new team, a new car, new Bridgestone tyres, and a somewhat under-powered and unreliable Yamaha engine, nobody knew just quite where the car would end up on the field except that it wouldn't be at the front - not for the first part of the season anyway.

With the regulations remaining mostly the same except for additional safety measures and down-force restrictions, the teams headed off for the Australian Grand Prix. But whilst Arrows had experienced reliability problems in testing, nothing could have prepared them for what was about to happen.
Yet more problems forced Damon to use the spare car in the dying stages of qualifying, and it took all his skill and experience in order to actually qualify for the race. He just made it onto the grid and then further improved on his time to take him to 20th place. What made his achievement even more worthy though was that the mechanics had mistakenly put the opposite settings to those which were required at the back of the car! Worse however, was yet to come.
A failure in the throttle sensor saw Damon pull off the track on the parade lap, ending his Australian Grand Prix before it had even begun. Damon took it like the Champion he was and not only remained calm and collected but also helped the marshals push the car to safety. A delighted David Coulthard took the race win as Villeneuve, Irvine and Johnny Herbert all collided at the first corner. It was McLaren's first victory since Ayrton Senna won at the 1993 finale, also in Australia.

After putting in over 300 laps of testing during the break between races which saw minor modifications to the car, Damon and the team were confident of a better performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix. It was therefore with relief and admiration that Damon qualified in 9th place, just 0.166 seconds behind his replacement Heinz-Harald Frentzen who was struggling to find his feet at Williams.
Damon started the race in the spare car after an oil leak in his race one, but after a good start he was hit from behind by Jordan driver Giancarlo Fisichella, sending the Arrows airborne and damaging the suspension and bodywork. Elsewhere Villeneuve after another bad start was forced wide by Schumacher, and Rubens Barrichello failed to get off the grid which caused the race to be red-flagged.
This gave the team a chance to repair the Arrows as best they could, and after another good start Damon was up to 7th. Thanks to the harder-wearing Bridgestone tyres he was able to stay out longer, taking him up to 4th place as others ahead of him pitted. Following his one and only stop Damon was down to 11th, but disaster struck again when he began losing drive due to another oil leak. He retired to the pits three laps from the finish with the back end of his car on fire and was classified in 17th after Villeneuve took the win ahead of Berger and Panis. Schumacher finished 5th with Frentzen a distant 9th.

The team struggled to get the car working properly on the twisty, bumpy Argentinian circuit, and despite heavy understeer Damon qualified in 13th having been in the top 10 earlier on. More aerodynamic improvements and a slightly tweaked engine didn’t help reliability however, and the team suffered oil and water leaks throughout the weekend.
The race seemed promising for Damon as the Bridgestones would stand up better on this hot and sunny day. Another first lap incident (Michael Schumacher had understeered into Rubens Barrichello, causing chaos behind them) saw Damon line up 6th behind the pace car. Three laps later the race re-started, and after benefiting from Frentzen’s retirement Damon was passed by the horsepower of Ralf Schumacher’s Jordan and Johnny Herbert’s Sauber.
Alesi’s Benetton was the next car to catch up with Hill, and after failing to get past for several laps he managed to pull along side the Arrows on the straight. Neither driver was willing to give up the corner, and slight contact put them both into a spin but not out of the race. Damon continued in 10th and was up to 8th when his engine overheated on lap 34. A rather ill Villeneuve took his second win of the season with Eddie Irvine under a second behind him.

Delays at customs after the previous race meant Arrows couldn't get as much testing done as they would have liked, and so proposed modifications that were meant for the San Marino Grand Prix did not go ahead. Continued bad luck for Damon saw him qualify in 15th after more mechanical problems, and his race was doomed before it even started when he was forced to start from the pit-lane after his race car developed a fault with its starter motor.
For the first time in the season Damon let the pressure get to him and on lap 12 he tried a desperate passing move on Shinji Nakano, resulting in retirement for both of them. As if to rub salt into the wounds, it was his replacement Heinz-Harald Frentzen took the first win of his career with Schumacher and Irvine completing the podium positions.

Although Imola had started damp, the Monaco Grand Prix saw the first true wet race of the season and a chance for Bridgestone to show their true potential. Damon having qualified in 13th didn't get to see it however, as through no fault of his own he was a victim of the carnage following a spin by one of the McLarens.
A delighted Michael Schumacher took his first win of the season in another masterful show of his wet-weather ability as Rubens Barrichello gave Stewart their first and best finish whilst Eddie Irvine came home third for Ferrari.

After a crash and disappointing results with the new engine in testing, things were looking bad for Damon when he was only 20th after the Friday Free Practice for the Spanish Grand Prix. A slightly better result of 15th in qualifying and a good start saw him up to 11th, and thanks to the harder Bridgestone tyres he was up to 5th just before his first pit-stop.
Sadly the engine failed on him, and Damon was left to wonder what might have been - the top 3 finishers (Villeneuve, Panis and Alesi) had also gone for two stops.

Damon finished his first race for Arrows at the Canadian Grand Prix in what proved to be a highly eventful weekend. After a promising but short-lived performance from the new Yamaha D-Spec engine, Damon qualified in 15th place having taken to the spare car after a spin.
A collision between Olivier Panis and Mika Hakkinen at the start of the race saw Damon pit after picking up a vibration problem from the debris. Fortunately a change of tyres solved it, and later Damon took advantage of the pace car to pit for fuel after Katayama's crash. Panis was in trouble again on lap 52. The safety car was brought out once more and then three laps later the race was stopped with Damon in 9th. Fortunately the Prost driver escaped with only broken legs; Michael Schumacher became the winner of the shortened race as David Coulthard suffered clutch problems having been in the lead. Alesi and Fisichella finished the podium places as Frenzten came home fourth, his team-mate Villeneuve suffering the humiliation of retiring on lap 2 in front of his home crowd.

A lack of testing and development both engine and car wise made for a poor qualifying session and Damon could only manage 17th in France after suffering from severe understeer problems once again. Having been squeezed out onto the gravel on the first lap Damon was forced to pit for a new nose-cone, and finished the race 12th and three laps down from Michael Schumacher who took his 25th career win.

After a run of disappointing qualifying performances, Damon managed 12th - the highest Bridgestone runner - for the British Grand Prix. This took the sting out of some of the highly public comments Tom Walkinshaw had made about Damon's recent form, but even more impressive was his 1st place in the wet warm-up as he traded places with Schumacher, Villeneuve and co. The Arrows' speed and handling problems were less of a factor in the rain, and Damon was hoping that the race wouldn't be dry.
Sadly it was, although with a now reliable car thanks to John Barnard and a strong and solid drive, Damon was within sight of the points as others ahead of him retired. With a couple of laps to go and in 7th this was looking unlikely, however much to his and the home crowd's joy Shinji Nakano went out ahead of him, promoting him to 6th. The fans went crazy and Damon waved from the cock-pit even before he had finished; it may have only been 1 point, but it felt like a win.

Considering the Yamaha engine was at least 100 bhp down on other makes, Damon did incredibly well to qualify 13th at the high-speed Hockenheim circuit for the German Grand Prix, and he was fast once again in the wet warm-up taking 2nd place behind Jacques Villeneuve.
Running a quick two-stop race Damon began to make progress immediately, overtaking Verstappen and Herbert early on. His first pit-stop was sooner than expected due to tyre wear, but he fought back up the field before his next one. After that it was a matter of holding on, and as Gerhard Berger took a very emotional 10th career win Damon finished 8th, his second best result of the season.

Described by Martin Brundle as the smoothest driver around the Hungaroring, Damon was on top form at the track which saw his first Grand Prix win. Consistently fast all weekend, Damon qualified a superb third in Hungary behind Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve. More importantly, he was on the clean side of the track, and this along with a good getaway allowed him to overtake Villeneuve and challenge Schumacher for the lead. The two World Champions raced nose to tail for several laps, and Damon finally fought his way past the Ferrari at the start of lap 11 in a perfectly judged manoeuvre.
The first of his two stops went ahead as planned, and having temporarily lost 1st to Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Damon re-took the lead when the Williams driver pitted and retired with mechanical problems. Damon was at his best, scything his way through back-markers and continually extending his lead. His final stop happened on lap 50, and the Englishman carried on serenely as he opened up a gap of over thirty seconds. Things were looking good but then disaster struck with 3 laps to go. A hydraulic failure caused throttle problems and an inability to change gear, and as Damon tried to coast home he was overtaken on the final lap by Villeneuve.
The Canadian took the win but along with Schumacher acknowledged Damon's speed around the demanding track. Although the engine had played less of a role in Hungary, it was the talent of the man behind the wheel that had so nearly claimed Bridgestone and Arrow's first win. Damon had shown once and for all that like Michael, he only needed an average car to perform well in.

A traffic-ridden final run in qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix saw Damon out-qualified by team-mate Diniz for only the second time as he lined up one place behind the Brazilian in 9th. It did however reflect well on the Arrows team for getting both cars inside the top ten at a track where they had been expected to be at a disadvantage, and Damon had been in the top 5 all weekend in practice.
If tyres had played an important role in Hungary, they were to prove even more decisive at Spa. A torrential downpour minutes from the start caused the race to begin behind the pace car, and unfortunately Damon was to later make the wrong choice on changing to intermediate tyres and so was a lap down by the time he switched to slicks. As Michael Schumacher once again gave everyone a driving lesson, Damon retired to the pits on the final lap having experienced sensations from one of the wheels. He was classified 14th, a wheel nut having been diagnosed as the problem.

Princess Diana had presented Damon with the winner's trophy at the 1994 British Grand Prix, and it was the Englishman who led the pit-lane in a minute's silence on the day of her funeral, which coincided with the qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
The high-speed Monza circuit suited some cars better than others. Jean Alesi was the fastest while the Championship contenders, Villeneuve and Schumacher, were left struggling in 4th and 9th places respectively. The Arrows' lack of power showed up most here, and Damon could only manage 14th. The race was a similar story as Damon struggled in the middle of the field, and his eventual retirement with an engine failure whilst in 9th was of little surprise. It wasn't all bad news for Britain though - David Coulthard took victory, despite a dramatic (but great looking) four wheel slide half-way through the race.

The new A-1 Ring was similar in many ways to the Hungaroring, and sure enough the Bridgestones performed well at the Austrian Grand Prix during qualifying. Unfortunately the engine was a little more influential at this track, but Damon still managed to qualify an impressive 7th.
After an tightly-run race Damon was heading towards the flag in 6th, but Michael Schumacher had other ideas. Having been penalised for over-taking under a yellow flag, the German who had looked likely to take 2nd place was now charging hard to finish in the points, and on the last lap dived inside Damon as the Englishman suffered from a soft brake pedal. It was like old times again, and the two of them talked happily about it after the race.

Straight-line speed was again a problem for Damon and after qualifying down in 13th for the Luxembourg Grand Prix the team reduced his wing-level for the race to try and improve it. After the first lap chaos Damon was up to 7th, and with the Bridgestones lasting longer than the Goodyears he was able to make one less stop than his rivals.
With a points-finish in his grasp Damon managed to throw it all away when he stalled the car during his only pit-stop. Even though a clutch problem was later diagnosed, the fact that there were four retirements ahead of him meant had he continued without trouble he would have finished on the podium, probably in 2nd place. As it was he finished 8th, and with Villeneuve winning for the second race running and Schumacher retiring at the start, the Canadian was looking good for the Championship with only two races to go.

Since Tom Walkinshaw had signed Mika Salo for 1998 and Damon had announced his decision to drive for the Jordan team, the Scottish team owner had made the rather curious choice of not allowing Damon to do any testing on the car, and this clearly showed as Damon could only qualify 17th for the Japanese Grand Prix due to lack of set-up time.
Starting in the spare car after a water leak Damon made up several places and was up to 12th after the first lap. Despite fighting an engine and gearbox with a mind of their own, and a headrest which eventually fell off, Damon kept his composure and was classified in 12th at the end of the race, although that would ultimately become 11th due to Villeneuve's misfortune.
In the Saturday morning free practice the Canadian had ignored a waved yellow flag, and as he was already under a suspended ban for a similar offence he was disqualified from the race. Reinstated under appeal, the Williams driver had little effect on the race as Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine played out a superb team strategy that saw the German take the win. Irvine finished third, but with Frentzen's second place Williams took their record ninth Constructors title.

A truly remarkable qualifying session for the European Grand Prix saw Villeneuve, Schumacher and Frentzen all set identical times to the thousandth. Perhaps even more remarkable was that Damon could have had pole had he not had to slow down after coming across Ukyo Katayama's spun Minardi under yellow flags on his quickest lap. As it was he was the only other driver who could get anywhere near the title contenders, his 4th place being only 0.058 seconds slower.
Having already taken the Arrows team out for a farewell dinner, Damon now had the chance to give them a good strong finish as a going-away present. Unfortunately mechanical and electrical problems in the morning warm-up meant Damon couldn't set the car up as he would have liked, and after being passed by both McLarens at the start and later Irvine and Berger he was really beginning to struggle.
The main focus of attention however was the battle for the World Championship. Schumacher and Villeneuve had been virtually nose to tail the entire race, but on lap 48 the Ferrari began to slow and Jacques took his chance. With the German a point ahead but now under pressure it was all very similar to 1994. Once again Michael turned in, but this time it was he who came off worse, landing in the gravel-trap as Villeneuve continued on. The Williams had suffered damage however and Jacques took it easy, allowing the McLarens past on the final lap as Hakkinen took his maiden win. Damon meanwhile had also retired on lap 48, this time due to gearbox problems. The World Championship was passed to Villeneuve, and although Schumacher had driven some spectacular races many felt it was the right result.

The season had finished as it had started for Damon, and it was a real shame that he hadn't been able to properly defend his title. Retirements from 9 races and a myriad of technical problems meant a lowly 13th in the final table with 7 points (12th after Schumacher's disqualification). However Damon had driven some World Champion class races and had now finally been given the recognition and respect that he was due.