Damon Hill in F1: from 1996 to 1999
In the second half of the ’90s, Williams achieved the last two World Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in its history: even before the ‘double’ achieved with Jacques Villeneuve in 1997, the Grove team triumphed with another legacy driver like Damon Hill in 1996, who surprisingly decided to join Arrows the following year. After just one season, the British driver signed for Jordan, a team with which he obtained the last victory of his career in Belgium in 1998, retiring from the Circus at the end of the 1999 season. Yet, precisely in what turned out to be the last two years of his career, an important opportunity arose for Hill.
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The McLaren offer
Shortly before 1998, in fact, McLaren had doubts about renewing David Coulthard, then teammate of Mika Hakkinen. For that reason, the Woking team made an offer to Hill, which he however refused, with Coulthard remaining at McLaren until 2004. In the 1998-1999 period, Hakkinen became world champion, in addition to the Constructors’ title won in 1998. In an interview on the Stay On Track podcast, the 65-year-old explained the reasons that led him to say ‘no’ to McLaren, mainly related to the then team principal: Ron Dennis.
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“If eccentricity means perfectionism to the point of driving everyone crazy because perfection can never be reached, then I think this is probably one of Dennis’s strengths, in a way – he said – I remember Ron was on the cover of Time or something like that. It said: ‘Is this the most successful manager in the world?’ or something like that. From a business point of view, he was exceptional at closing deals, selling the team, and turning McLaren into an unbeatable team. At one point he was practically untouchable. But yes, he was very difficult to deal with, in the sense that he never gave you the impression he really wanted me there. The opportunity to go there came up, I came very close, but I concluded: if he doesn’t want me there, do I really want to find myself in a situation similar to what I experienced with Williams, where I was trying to understand if they really considered me worthy of being kept? After leaving Williams I concluded that I didn’t want to put myself through that situation again. I will go somewhere only if someone wants me there, and with Ron I didn’t have that impression. So, I politely declined the offer“.
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