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(WIND BLOWS)

(TENSE MUSIC)

(BIRD SQUAWKS)

(CLOCK TICKING)

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

WALKER: The grand finale for the Australian Grand Prix

will decide the 1994 World Championship.

In my whole life, people have been asking me

if I was going to be a racing driver like my dad.

(MECHANICAL WHIRRING) (F1 ENGINES REVVING)

The truth is,

I've never wanted to become a racing driver.

And yet there I was,

within a point of winning the world championship.

(CROWD CHATTERS)

It's almost like I was trying to get back to the start again.

Get back to the place that it all went off the rails.

(PLANE ENGINE ROARS)

WALKER: A lot of people have come in the hope that this man

is going to be able to do something that his late, great father,

double world champion Graham Hill did.

And if I could get back to the start again...

...maybe I could put right everything that went wrong.

(ENGINES REVVING)

Australia is go!

(ENGINE ROARING)

Oh! Damon Hill out of the Grand Prix!

The world championship has literally been torn from his hands.

(ENGINE RUMBLING AND REVING)

For Damon to be saying it's too slow,

there must be too much wheel spin then.

He was kind of on the peripheries of a friendship group.

He says we went to the same parties. I have no memory of him whatsoever.

On one particular party night,

I saw him sitting outside,

clad from head to toe in grimy leathers

and sitting astride this big motorbike. And I think,

"Hmm, OK," you know.

(PUMPING MUSIC PLAYS FAINTLY)

And it was in a big warehouse.

And I looked across, and on the other side of the room was Damon.

And it was like an epiphany.

I understood with absolute clarity that that was my husband.

And it was the most peculiar thing

because we'd literally said two words to each other.

Got rid of the guy I was talking to.

I thought, "I better go and talk to Damon"

and actually find out what my husband is like.

(DUCK QWUACKING)

A wild Mandarin... That's a wild Mandarin duck.

(BIRD CALLING)

Do you like it, Georgie? Yes, it's lovely.

You like ducks, don't you? Mm.

When I met Georgie, she was wary.

I saw that as a challenge to try and convince her I was, erm...

...someone she could trust.

Damon was a very complicated guy.

WOMAN: Yeah, this is Damon Hill. The juggler, the ace.

On the surface, he was joking and mucking about.

but he was one of the saddest people I'd ever come across in my life.

MAN: Fantastic! (LAUGHS)

He just loved motorbikes, and that's what he wanted to do.

(TENSE MUSIC)

You're in your own world on a motorbike.

It is just freedom.

REPORTER: His father won his first world championship in 1962,

so he accepts whatever branch of racing he goes for,

he'll always be in his father's shadow.

I'm not my father.

I hope I might have a little bit of his talent,

but I think mostly he had determination,

and that comes from something else that you can't inherit.

So, I'm still trying. (CHUCKLES)

We had this trip to some motorbike mechanic place,

and he needed his bike for the weekend,

and it all became very stressful.

And we suddenly screeched out,

to a stop outside this old church and churchyard,

and that's where his father was buried.

And he was absolutely bereft and in floods of tears.

And that was the first time he'd ever mentioned his father to me.

And that was six months after we'd met.

(SOMBRE MUSIC)

If you look at the amount of races he did in the 60s

and the places he raced in,

it's not surprising he wasn't there much.

It was almost like the house came alive when he came back.

He put on this air of being in control.

But also had a twinkle in his eye.

My dad had an attitude which was,

"I am going to make the most of every second of my life."

GRAHAM: Motor racing, obviously, has got its dangers.

And because of this,

you become much more aware of life.

I mean, you extract more out of life.

You go out in the garden, and you look at the flowers

and you hear the birds, and you see the grass,

and then you think, "Well, I'm sure there must be a god."

I cannot prove to myself that there isn't one.

Journalists didn't think that he was a natural driver.

He gave the impression that he didn't have an innate ability.

I think he must have done. There's no way

you can win the Monaco Grand Prix five times...

(LAUGHS) ..without having some natural ability.

It can't just be done on pure determination and grit.

But if you combine the two things...

...you get Graham Hill.

I envy Graham Hill not just because

he's a formidable driver but because he's also an original.

I wasn't a car racing fan, but I definitely was a fan of Graham Hill.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

I didn't know to clap quite so much about that one but...(CROWD LAUGHS)

Being a professional racing driver was lucrative in those days.

You might call it danger money or whatever,

but as a family, it got a real taste of the high life.

GRAHAM: Hello. (CHUCKLES) Who said that?

(KIDS GIGGLING) I did. (CHUCKLES)

What an extraordinary thing.

We were very lucky children.

Two daddies?

(CHILD GIGGLES) Two daddies.

Two Bridgets

and two Damons! (CHILD GIGGLES) Gosh.

When I was 15, he announced

that he was going to retire from full-time racing.

He wanted to concentrate on his team, Embassy Racing.

(CHILDREN GIGGLE) Very good.

Thank God for that!

You know, because we've lived with this our whole lives,

that you could be killed in a racing car.

And now you're going to stop. Thank God for that.

(KIDS LAUGH AND CHATTER)

Six months later,

I was watching TV with my younger sister, Samantha.

We're expecting Dad home. My mum is in the kitchen.

And then, "We interrupt this programme to bring you a news flash."

REPORTER: It was late last night when Hill's own Piper Aztec

smashed into a screen of trees...

I can remember just...

that kind of wave of heat coming up through my legs

and then just into my face.

And I just remember just...

clocking what this meant,

not being sure but being terrified.

REPORTER: The crash, on the edge of Arkley Golf course,

virtually wiped out the Embassy Hill racing team,

including two drivers and the manager.

The plane burnt out in minutes...

I went up to her and said,

"Mum, erm...

they think there's a plane crash." Erm...

"What do you mean?"

"I've just seen it on the television."

Erm...

And erm... She just went hysterical.

She just... started screaming and...

erm... saying...

getting very cross because she said, "I knew it was too good to be true."

That point onwards, it was just pandemonium

and just horror, really.

Yeah. Just...

That was the end, really.

(BELLS RING)

(ANGELIC MUSIC)

(BELLS RINGING)

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

Then it turns out the plane wasn't insured.

He didn't have the right licence...

...to support the business.

He'd borrowed money.

The other men on board had families too.

Dad's estate was vulnerable from every angle. This is a mess,

and there's not gonna be anything left to look after my mum or us kids.

A lot of the things in the house went to auction,

and eventually, the house had to go.

I can remember...

...feeling I would like to have been with him on the plane.

I didn't want to be here. (SWALLOWS)

I want... I would...

I would have given up.

I would've exchange places with someone else on the plane.

(ENGINE SHUTS OFF)

We had been living together for a couple of years.

He'd been away for a week, and I missed him.

So, I'd made a nice supper and raining outside and cold and...

Georgie. You bought lamb chops?

When he got back, he came in.

I was literally getting the supper out the oven.

He said, "I'm going to race in Formula 1,

and I'm going to become a world champion."

"OK. That's great. Do you want some food?"

And we kind of carried on eating,

and I thought, "Well, he probably will," because he absolutely

is one of the most determined people I've ever met in my life.

It's now eight years since Graham Hill,

one of motor racing's greatest characters, was lost to the sport.

Since that time, his 23-year-old son,

Damon Hill, has been racing motorbikes.

And at Brands Hatch yesterday, wearing his father's helmet,

he made his motor racing debut in the Formula Ford 2000 trophy.

WALKER: You're on the verge of your first race.

What are your hopes and ambitions?

Where do you want to go onto in this sport?

Well, I'd like to go to the top.

After my father had died,

I did feel that I had a responsibility on my shoulders.

Especially towards my sisters.

I'd like to, if I could, in some way, I know it's probably impossible,

but in some way fill his shoes a little.

WALKER: An emotional day, too, for Damon's mother, Bette...

who'd seen his father rise from a club race to world champion.

Well, you've had your first experience

of driving in race traffic. What do you think of it?

It's pretty amazing, actually. (LAUGHS) It's unbelievable.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

I'd started late, and so I was already in my mid-20s.

And so, I was probably ten years too old.

I'd been on bikes instead of go-karts.

I had a bit of a steep hill to climb.

Was able to run and jump in,

only I wasn't as consistent as some of the others.

People I raced against started to slip away from me

and I got stuck on the rails a little bit

to the point where eventually I had no money left.

So, I'm 28 with no job,

no career, and we're about to have our first baby.

Well, this is it, Christmas at the Hill household.

Happy Christmas!

OK. Hitting recording. This my husband...

I was prepared to drive anything to keep my head above water

and pay the mortgage.

One of the guys that I'd raced with was the test driver for Williams.

The test driver literally was someone who just would do the donkey work.

He was never going to get shot at the number one slot at all.

As a test driver, you were not going to make it in Formula 1.

But I was very keen to do this because I needed the money.

(ENGINE REVVING)

And I got a meeting with Frank Williams

and Patrick Head.

I knew of Frank because he was around when my dad was racing.

INTERVIEWER: Is it a sport anymore? Oh, yeah.

The name of the game here is competition

cos we're trying to prove we're out there, the best on the racetrack.

I know what Frank wants. He wants a guy who is just going to do the job

and do it properly and not be a big pain in the arse.

(CHUCKLES) Not like some of his drivers.

(ENGINE REVVING)

I'd be testing Nigel Mansell's car.

It was just the most amazing car I'd have driven.

(ENGINE REVVING)

I was there to break it.

To find the flaws in it.

And I went round and round and round.

Nigel Mansell called me The Monkey.

Damon, I suppose you'd really like to be dressed in those clothes

for the Grand Prix.

I wouldn't mind sleeping in them actually, you know. (CHUCKLES)

I feel part of the Williams team when I'm wearing the overalls,

and obviously they're very successful.

And the car is, er, currently probably the best racing car

that's ever been built. Best Formula 1 car.

The world motor racing champion Nigel Mansell says he'll retire

from Formula 1 competition at the end of this season.

Alain Prost had signed, and Nigel Mansell was miffed by that

and couldn't come to an agreement

or didn't want to come to an agreement with Frank.

The issue of today, if you like, in my mind is...

who will be the second driver?

Because we shall decide this week.

And suddenly, at the end of the season,

the last moment when every other driver had signed contracts to

drive for other teams, there was this empty space at Williams.

And I thought, "I've got this one chance to be in line

for the best drive in Formula 1."

Even flew down to Adelaide in the last race of the season

because I wanted Frank to see me.

(WHISTLE BLOWS) (PEOPLE CHATTER)

I hung around the back of the garage like a bad penny.

I was told that Frank was coming down to this test in Portugal,

and he's on the verge of making his decision.

(IN FRENCH):

(ENGINES ROARING)

(MECHANICAL WHIRRING) (ENGINE REVS AND RUMBLES)

I had to fly down to Portugal on the Sunday night

to be there for Monday to go testing. (CHUCKLES)

Three o'clock, I got in my car to head off

and I'm stuck in this...

50,000 people coming out of a football match.

And I'm not going to make it for this test of a lifetime,

where Frank is going to decide whether or not I've got the drive.

I got to Heathrow, I was thinking,

"I'm leaving this car on the ramp,

and they can blow it up. I don't care."

I got the flight. I'm dripping in sweat.

My heart is through the roof.

And I look at the date...

...and it's the 29th of November.

Which is the day my dad died.

And, er...

(INHALES SHAKILY) ..you know...

I thought, "I've got to get this."

(BOTH LAUGH) (FAX MACHINE WHIRRS)

Tell us, what's this? What's going on?

Oh, crikey. Hang on, Damon, there's a fax here for you.

Ah, it's from Frank.

Erm, "Sorry, Damon, changed our mind...

...Hakkinen is now driving for us for £7 million."

Is it good?

(GRUNTS)

(PHOTOGRAPHERS CHATTER) The primary purpose of this conference

is to confirm that Damon will be a regular driver for Canon Williams

in the Williams Renault cars in the 1993 World Championship.

Primarily our requirement from him is to not crash the car,

is to get on the podium as often as he can.

And of course, therefore or thereby

to win, to obtain, as many World Championship points in 1993,

to help the Canon Williams team

retain its grip on the World Championship for Constructors.

"You will be responsible for your own travel

and accommodation expenses at Grand Prix...

but we will pay for your wife to attend any races you designate."

(FAX MACHINE WHIRRS AND BEEPS)

What's that all about? That's not right. Never mind.

You're not paying for your travel and accommodation, are you?

No.

You wouldn't have any money left at the end of the year.

Oh, no, well, that's what has to be thrashed about, you see.

(PHONE RINGS) That's my fax,

my contract going through to Williams.

INTERVIEWER: What about Dad?

What would he have thought of all of this, do you think?

I think he'd be very excited indeed.

And perhaps he'd be a bit proud of me as well.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

WALKER: This year, there's every prospect of a season of excitement

and drama and real competition.

Three-time world champion Alain Prost is back

to lead the Williams team,

and Ayrton Senna, who we feared might be taking a year off,

he's here, driving an all-new McLaren Ford.

(PEOPLE CHATTER) (CROWD MEMBER CHEERS)

I was trying to be what they wanted,

but I felt like I was on a very thin ledge.

I knew I'd got to Formula 1 late.

I knew I was given a golden opportunity.

Now, I have to get the stamp of approval as a Formula 1 driver.

Got to make this stick.

(ENGINES REVVING)

(ENGINES REVVING)

WALKER: Away they go. Senna's got a superb start.

Damon Hill is into second position

as they go into the first left corner.

And look at that! A complete spin by Damon Hill.

He's over done it.

And Damon Hill is in 12th position.

COMMENTATOR: Ah, that's Hill going off with Zanardi.

Disappointing debut for Williams.

Not a great start.

I satisfied everyone's doubts about me because...

there were a lot of people who were doubtful that Frank

had done the right thing, signing someone as inexperienced as myself.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

There are definitely drivers who have no doubts about themselves.

ANNOUNCER: Second place driver, Ayrton Senna.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

My confidence was conditional on me performing well.

If I performed badly, then the little gremlins would creep in

and go, "Well, maybe I'm not up to it."

But I could not afford to fail.

(SOFT MUSIC)

We didn't expect our first child to have a learning disability.

For me, the first 24 hours were really hard,

and I just thought, "I'm...

"I don't know if I can do this.

I'm going to be overwhelmed by this."

(BLOWS KISS)

And the hospital that we had him in,

they were giving us little addresses of care homes

written on scraps of envelopes.

He wasn't even 12 hours old, and they laid out his future for him.

And I felt...

"Right, OK. If that's all he's worth,

he's worth a lot more to us."

(COOS)

Feeling this responsibility,

I had to support Oliver and Georgie,

really focused my determination.

(INTENSE MUSIC)

COMMENTATOR: The Brazilian Grand Prix now comes down

to a straight fight between Senna and Damon Hill.

WALKER: Well, he's in a position to try.

And Hill has done it.

Oh!

Senna uses all his superior experience.

And to the delirious delight of his countrymen wins in Brazil.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

After the race, he sent his manager round,

and he said, "Ayrton would like to see you in his motor home."

So, I went round dutifully and sat down,

listened to Ayrton giving me a little bit of fatherly advice.

"It's dangerous, and you need to be more careful."

Lovely day for it.

I was quite pleased with myself, actually,

that I'd upset him. (LAUGHS)

You think they're probably...

Yeah, I think you'll find its the tyres, though.

I was watching the gap between me and Alain.

I was, at times, quicker than him.

I knew the car better than him.

I knew the team better than him. And from time to time,

I did a better job in the car. Then you start to believe in yourself.

WALKER: Damon Hill passes Alain Prost.

Makes no bones about it either.

He was supposed to win the championship,

and I was often told to back off if I got close.

COMMENTATOR: Damon, he just checked his mirror

to see exactly where Prost was behind him.

And Prost takes the lead. No fight from Damon.

Very neatly done. Almost looked like a beautiful team drill.

(FANS CLAMOUR)

Exactly what were the orders for Damon?

Damon was asked to give way to Alain,

which is the basis of his contract and really not too surprising

when you consider that Damon is in his first year of Formula 1.

In France, you received orders from the boss not to pass Prost, right?

What is the position here for Silverstone?

You just asked the wrong question. Mm-hm?

I said I'd answer one question. I can't answer that one.

This time, Damon can win?

Yes. Yeah.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

WALKER: He is leading and if he is still there on lap 49

if his car's reliable, we can hope, from the English point of view,

that he is going to win his first Grand Prix.

STEWART: The race that his father never did win.

It would be wonderful for Damon to get his first Grand Prix victory

here in front of his home crowd.

This is Damon Hill's supreme day.

And there's an engine blowing!

It... It...

It's Damon Hill.

Ah... Argh!

What can I or anybody say?

Damon Hill's Renault engine has expired.

And the Englishman is not going to win.

Alain Prost goes into the lead.

And, er, ... I can just imagine

what's going through Damon Hill's mind now.

"What have I got to do to win a Grand Prix?"

(ENGINES ROARING)

My dad travelled on determination and enthusiasm.

Not being put off by disappointment.

Say Daddy's good, Olly.

(PHONE RINGS)

WALKER: The Formula 1 World Champion of 1993 Alain Prost.

(APPLAUSE)

(TOYS WHIRR)

He finished third in the FIA World Drivers Championship.

Ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome, please, for Damon Hill.

He gave us an extremely hard time on occasions last year,

and I'm glad to say he's now on the same side.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ayrton Senna.

The journalists were asking, "How are you going to cope with Ayrton?"

What a great introduction I had:

Nigel Mansell, Alan Prost and now Ayrton Senna.

I wanted to find out how I could be rated against these benchmarks.

Same team, same car. I'd know. I'd find out.

(WHEEL GUNS WHIRRING)

Ayrton had signed up for what he thought was going to be

the kind of experience that Alain Prost had had with a dominant car.

And it wasn't going to plan.

The International Motorsports Federation

has banned some of the controversial computer devices

which help drivers in Formula 1 motor racing.

The ban is designed to stop the domination

of the richest Formula 1 teams like Williams Renault,

the world champions.

Hi, Ayrton, how do you feel about driving with the new regulations?

It just makes it harder.

I think with electronic suspension, the cars were more controlled.

Traction control used to give a great help.

You cannot afford to go on the throttle

and let the traction control do the work for you.

So, it is more of a challenge than anything.

When we first ran the car,

it was difficult to drive.

(ENGINES REVVING)

WALKER: Straight into the lead goes Schumacher.

And a spinner there. That is Senna.

Ayrton Senna is out.

And off goes Damon Hill.

My goodness, this is not Williams' race.

Ayrton stood by the edge of the track

and felt he heard something that was suspicious from Michael's car.

(INAUDIBLE SPEECH)

There was suspicions about whether or not

Benetton still had traction control.

And Michael Schumacher wins the Pacific Grand Prix.

Out comes the fist of victory.

He's dominated in Japan, as he dominated in Brazil.

You don't want to be racing against someone

who you think is not playing with a fair deck.

But the attitude of Williams was,

"We don't have evidence, We don't know what they're doing.

We're just gonna have to beat them with what we've got."

There was this pregnant feel about returning to Europe.

The fact that Imola marked the start of the championship proper.

If you are going to become world champion,

you'd have to start winning.

Almost like the feeling that there was this thunder cloud

that had to release all its energy...

...hanging over this race.

PRESENTER: The race starts in just over two hours' time now.

The drivers have had their mandatory briefing,

and they talk through safety aspects on the track.

Imola, it's, for us, I think,

drivers, it's a very fast circuit,

very demanding, because the speeds we do around here are pretty high.

And it takes a lot of concentration to maintain,

most of the time, control over the machine.

It's also a circuit where the G-forces

in our body and the neck are pretty high

because we're doing this corner at 290 kilometres an hour.

It's a long corner and the neck goes, goes, goes and the same...

I had gone to sit in the motorhome.

I'm reading my book, and the door opens, and in comes Ayrton.

He starts to get dressed.

I'm thinking, "Do you want me to leave?"

And he'd go, "No, no, stay and talk.

Tell me, you've got little boys." And I'm thinking, "Really?

Ayrton's about to go out and race,

does he really want to hear about my little boys?"

But he really did.

He was talking about how happy he was when he was with his nephews,

and that was his favourite thing in the world

to be playing with them in the sea.

He's leaving,

and he stops and turns around and says,

"Don't worry about Damon. He's going to be fine.

Williams are a great team, and they are safe.

They'll look after him. Don't you worry about him."

He literally walked out

and went straight into the garage, got in his car.

And that was that.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Ayrton was flying.

WALKER: We're on lap six now. And Senna is followed by Schumacher.

Now, that is Senna! My goodness.

I just saw him plunge off to the right.

(CAR SLOWS)

I'd seen him go off. And my first thought was,

"He'll be annoyed because he hasn't finished the race."

I can tell from the radio communications

that it's pretty serious.

The tone of voice is worrying.

"How serious?"

"Serious serious."

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRR)

What the hell?

How could he go off on that corner?

I was getting limited information from Williams

because they were concerned about finding out

what had caused the accident

and what they could advise me to not have the same problem.

So, we'd had power steering on the car.

They wanted to be reassured

that there wasn't something that was amiss with that.

They said to me on the grid, "Turn it off.

We're going to run without it, just to be sure."

(INAUDIBLE)

"Right. That's going to be tough."

I was upset.

You know, "Just bring him in.

Why are you keeping him out if you don't know?"

(ENGINES REVVING)

I was in the garage,

and I saw one of the team come in

and make a beeline for Patrick.

I saw her say to him that Ayrton had died.

I don't think I've ever felt so powerless in my whole life.

It was horrible waiting for him to just come in in one piece.

We got in our little hire car.

Damon curled up in a little ball in the back seat.

He kind of vaguely pointed me in the right direction for the airport.

The plane was utterly silent.

And every now and then you'd hear somebody having a cry.

I mean, it was utterly silent.

(AEROPLANE ENGINE ROARS FAINTLY)

Everyone in the team was just drained of...

any ability to comprehend.

I didn't want to go to any funerals.

Jackie Stewart called me

and asked me, "Are you going to go to the funeral?"

And I said, "I don't want to go, Jackie.

Erm... I-I don't want to go."

He said, "You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you don't go.

You have to go." So, for me,

that is like my dad telling me, "You're going to the funeral."

You know? Jackie was really close with my dad.

He was of that generation. And he'd seen enough of his mates

lose their lives. And so, he knew the right thing to do.

And I got on the plane and went to Ayrton's funeral

and helped carry the coffin.

The last funeral I'd been to was my dad's.

It was hell emotionally.

It just brought back all those...

feelings, fears,

that I had experienced when I'd been to my dad's funeral.

For most people in the team,

this was something they'd never experienced before.

I had to tell my mum that one of her close friends

and my dad's teammate, Jim Clark, died when I was six years old.

I knew that my dad had experienced losing his friends in this sport.

And I knew it was a reality. It was a real possibility.

INTERVIEWER: Did the loss of Jimmy make you feel any more vulnerable?

Well, yes, quite. I mean, that was horrible,

and of course, it really brings it home with a terrible jolt,

and you just feel empty,

and it's a terrible time for any driver.

And it's very difficult to describe loss and how it affects you.

But you've just got to draw a blank across it.

I mean, what he went through with Jim Clark was absolutely horrific.

He'd literally picked up the pieces

and put them in the truck and telling the mechanics to get that car

back to the UK, and we'll work out what happened later.

I did admire him enormously for his stoicism

and his ability to cope with these really extreme situations.

I wanted to be as responsible as him.

(PA ANNOUNCEMENT IN PROGRESS)

If I could be of any help

or provide any kind of comfort or solace,

the only way I could do that would be to produce the results

that they'd worked so hard for.

(ENGINES ROAR)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(TEAM CHEERS)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And that onto the story of my dad and Jim Clark in that the first race

they won after losing Jim Clark was the Spanish Grand Prix.

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

I understood something about my dad in that process.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

This victory must go to everyone at Williams.

We've been through terrible times.

And also to all fans of Ayrton Senna,

who said to me that they would be very pleased

to see the Williams team do well. And er...

So, really, to everyone, thank you very much.

(UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS VIA SPEAKERS)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

"OK, listen. We're not beaten yet.

There's still a lot of races to go.

I can win this championship.

But I need support. I need all the good gear.

I need to be able to spearhead this

and I want you to believe that I can do it."

But following Senna's death, Renault felt they needed a big name.

What do they do? They get Nigel back.

I felt undermined by that.

OK. Ready to go to work?

(ENGINEERS CHEER)

It seemed to me to be a vote of no confidence.

And I think it probably looked like that

to Michael, who I'm trying to race against.

PRESS: Michael! Michael! Michael! Michael...

My best chance to show what I can do

was going to be at the British Grand Prix.

WALKER: Damon Hill has pole position.

I got pole position, and he didn't like that.

During the warmup,

the rules are, you follow the pole guy to the grid.

So, he does this weird thing where he shoots off and then he overtakes me.

And then we had a restart,

and he did it again.

He's overtaken me twice now.

"What is going on?"

He'd play these games.

It's a stop and go penalty.

But this time, he got penalised.

And I won the race.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Felt great.

And I was beginning to close the gap.

Alright.

ANNOUNCER: "The Princess of Wales presents Damon Hill

with his trophy..."

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(PEOPLE SCREAMING)

By the time we get to Japan,

the championship was a real possibility.

But they brought Nigel back again.

"Why are you guys not behind me?

He can't win the championship.

And if he's going to take championship points off me,

why would you do it?"

I had a bit of a sulk on,

and Patrick, he gave me a kind of talking to about my attitude.

At that point I just thought, "Do you know what? Screw all of you.

If you cannot be grateful for what I have done

and tried to do for your team and you think I'm just a misery guts,

I'm just going to race for myself."

In a way, it released me.

It released me from the feeling of obligation to them.

It was like going back to racing bikes.

It was just freedom.

(HYPNOTIC MUSIC)

I have to beat Michael.

If I didn't...

it was over.

It had got quite dark because it was so wet and cloudy.

(ENGINES REVVING)

He got in front of me.

I can see the light on his gearbox,

and I thought, "If I lose sight of that, he's gone."

So, I'm literally driving and just looking at the red dot

and thinking, "Just... keep following that light."

I ended up on the road ahead of him.

But I could see he was going to catch me at the last lap.

This is it.

In my head, I said,

"Ayrton, if you're up there, I could do with a hand."

And something happened.

My foot went to the floor.

My arms are moving in a way that I felt like it wasn't in my hands.

And then I'm going round turn two

and through the S's absolutely like a bat out of hell.

I'm released from this conscious driving

that I've been doing up until now.

I'm absolutely committed to going as fast as possible,

come what may.

I just felt like I'd been visited by some sort of...

...spirit.

(ENGINE ROARING)

WALKER: Damon Hill wins the Japanese Grand Prix

to close the World Championship gap between himself

and Michael Schumacher to just one point.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

The Australian Grand Prix will decide the 1994 World Championship.

Never has a World Championship been as close for ten years now.

I was so close.

Simple maths:

neither of us finish... then he's the world champion.

I come in front of him,

I'm the world champion.

It was like we'd just literally got the cars off the plane from Suzuka

and just re-started the race in Adelaide.

Got a great start, the race was on.

Gradually he started to eke away a bit of a gap.

"Ah, no. He's cracked me."

We got to this part of the track where you couldn't see the next guy.

He's gone round the 90-degree left.

Michael disappears.

I can see him scrabbling to get back on the track.

His car was damaged.

Now's my chance.

Oh! Out goes Schumacher!

The German is out of the Australian Grand Prix.

And Damon Hill only has to keep going to be world champion of 1994,

but can he keep going?

Schumacher should have known his car was damaged. Damon had the line.

That was a desperate manoeuvre by Schumacher

to stop Damon Hill winning the championship.

Do we have anything to clamp through it?

(ENGINEERS CHATTER FRANTICALLY) (TOOLS CLATTER)

Michael Schumacher had waited for Damon Hill to come round.

But he must know by now that the Englishman is in trouble.

And Hill's shaking his head.

(INAUDIBLE SPEECH)

Damon Hill retires from the Australian Grand Prix,

and the 1994 World Championship

has been won by Michael Schumacher.

(CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS)

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

MAN: Hey, what you doing? Hey!

There abouts.

MAN: Warm up now.

And as soon as he saw Damon...

Sees you, turns in.

See, look in the mirror. WOMAN: Yeah.

(PEOPLE GASP)

Frank and Patrick were very stoic. Not in their nature to complain.

The FIA should have looked at it.

But they didn't.

MAN: Well, the world's just seen all that.

I was drained at the end of '94.

I had to do a load of PR.

(APPLAUSE)

(APPLAUSE)

(APPLAUSE)

It just ran from one season straight into the next. And I think I was...

...very on edge, tired and drained.

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

GEORGIE: He hadn't had even time to process what had happened to Ayrton.

And he just bulldozed his way through.

(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)

The Williams team, they have the same engine,

and there is no difference between us.

Maybe then the difference is in the drivers.

Some can keep it for the whole race,

this performance, and some do it for one lap.

(SMACKS LIPS)

Thank you.

INTERVIEWER: Damon, congratulations on the first pole of the year.

How do you feel about the Benetton?

The only thing I can say is that, erm,

I've learned from the last year never to underestimate the guy.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Michael Schumacher had this imperious air about him.

He was naturally very confident, very smart guy,

and he never wanted to give anybody anything to go on.

PRESS: Michael! Michael...

The moment he was inside that paddock,

he had a wall around himself.

He wasn't going to show any sign of emotion about anything.

He knew when somebody was weak.

He treated his competitors with an air of disdain.

In a way, you're beating them already by doing that

because that irritates any competitor.

They're not regarded as worthy.

Would you ever consider being in the same team as Damon Hill?

I don't have a problem to be in the same team than Damon Hill,

and I'm sure he would accept to be second driver then, so... (LAUGHS)

(TOOLS WHIRRING) (LIFT WHIRRS)

And he got under my skin.

But it also worked on Frank and Patrick.

They also regarded him as being the kind of driver

they'd prefer to have rather than me.

INTERVIEWER: Damon, what is his advantage on Michael Schumacher?

Erm...

I'm not sure he has an advantage. We'll have to see in the race.

And you start to doubt yourself.

WALKER: Off goes Damon Hill, out of the race!

And Michael Schumacher takes the lead.

Being in Formula 1, it's a very exposing experience.

If you have an ounce of doubt...

...it's found the crack in your armour

and it's straight into the central nervous system.

Because you yourself might believe there might be part of that is true.

(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING) PRESS: This way, Damon! Down here...

(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING) This way, Damon! Down here...

Aged 11, I just couldn't stop thinking about this motorbike.

And eventually my dad bought me one for a birthday present.

Oh! Is it mine?

But he presented it to me in front of everyone.

GRAHAM: Now, you want to be careful with all these people here.

He wanted to do it at Brands Hatch, in the paddock,

so that it could be filmed. It was on display.

Nice to see you're here. - Thank you, Bruce. - And you, Damon.

Hello, thank you. Go on, say something.

Something. Alright, something. (LAUGHS)

He's not like you. He can't chat as much as you, can he?

My dad was good at it.

I wasn't cut out for it.

I didn't want to be pushed into the limelight.

Being pushed forward because you're the son of.

If your dad is the star of the show, then who are you?

He was really, really trying hard to make this thing happen.

I think he felt there were lots of things trying to stop him

from achieving that.

He would try to make situations as difficult as they could possibly be,

to kind of rev himself up.

To get him into that laser focus

that he would need to function at his highest level.

(ENGINE ROARS NEAR BY)

On occasion involved annoying me so much that I would bite back.

We were in the motorhome.

He started having this argument with me, which is completely ridiculous.

And I just thought, "Do you know what? I can't do this."

And I picked up this massive, big flower display

and just lobbed it at Damon and then went storming off.

It was not nice being used as...

...the wind up.

I was anxious.

Too anxious to prove other people wrong.

And I was angry.

And anger is your worst enemy in racing.

It will get you to do something stupid.

COMMENTATOR: And this is really hotting up to a tremendous battle

between the top two in the championship.

Well, this is what the championship should be about.

Two drivers, the very top of their careers,

battling for the lead.

I was catching Michael.

And he would have known that.

There was something in the way he opened the door in that corner.

And I got suckered into a move.

Oh, Hill's off! Hill's off!

Oh, disaster, what has happened to Damon Hill?

Oh, he's hit. The two cars have collided.

Damon has tried to pass Michael Schumacher.

And the two cars collided.

Full back page of The Sun.

It says the words "prat".

And it's a quote from your team boss,

the guy that employs you.

That hurts.

(PRESS CLAMOUR)

WALKER: Damon Hill needs to get up to Michael Schumacher

and get past him to improve his World Championship chances.

Oh, and Hill hits Schumacher.

They both go off! They both go off.

This is a repetition of Silverstone. Amazing!

The second time now I'm in front of Damon.

And he took away the possibility for me to extend the lead too. It's him.

Well, fundamentally, that was a mistake from Damon Hill.

I think he underestimated

where Michael Schumacher was going to break.

The disgusted,

angry Michael Schumacher walks back with Damon Hill.

INTERVIEWER: Damon, your opinion's important for us.

Because we only have Schumacher's view.

Alright, I'll say something. Yeah, OK.

I just wanna know why Michael was going so slowly.

Why does he suddenly go so slowly in the middle of the chicane like that,

you know? He was going flat out,

every lap up until then we're going to flat out.

And then suddenly he's going about 20ks an hour slower.

The peak of it came in Suzuka.

I had a nightmare race.

WALKER: Off goes Damon Hill, bouncing across the gravel.

And this time, he is out of the race.

Well, words fail me.

And I remember going to the changing room.

And there was Frank and Patrick on one side of the room.

I suddenly thought, "I want to cry.

It's gone so badly I wouldn't blame them if they sacked me on the spot."

And I did go into a depression.

(APPLAUSE)

It was just that kind of cycle of confusion.

"Why is this happening to me?"

Why did you run off two times at the same corner?

Aren't you frustrated? Yes.

(LAUGHS)

So, it's really funny to see you laughing.

Well...

if you don't laugh, you cry. So, it's better to laugh.

Are there sometimes moments in your life when you want to stop racing?

Er, well, there's been a few this year. (CHUCKLES)

Thank you. OK?

Damon was just 21 when I met him.

It's not that long ago that his father had died and...

...there was something about his seriousness

and the fact that he was a survivor of this awful thing.

And he was still standing.

I thought, "I'll be OK with him.

I'll be absolutely OK with him."

Because I think he understood something about life that

most of the people around me at the time had no understanding of.

(KIDS CHATTER) (KID CRIES)

I had a lovely childhood.

And when my dad died,

it all went horribly to pieces.

And the rest of my time has been spent

trying to put it back together again.

Was I a racing driver just simply because my dad was one?

I felt I had to go through all of this pain

to put right everything that went wrong.

But the truth is not that simple.

You can't go back and fix things. That's the bottom line.

You can make facsimiles of what was in the past,

but you can't go back and fix things.

Before I can start being me...

...before I can be the person that is not just copying his dad...

...not just a facsimile, not just an echo,

I needed to let go of the past.

Well, there you go, Dad.

(PEOPLE CHATTER)

I'm a bit nervous. Got a knot in my stomach.

Be a big disappointment then for you if he didn't win.

No. As long as he's back safely, I don't mind.

But deep down, you want him to be the fastest runner here, don't you?

No, I don't want him to be a competitive person at all.

I want him to enjoy his life.

You don't think he can enjoy his life by winning?

I don't want him to always feel that just because

he hasn't been the best at something that he's failed.

I think that's a terrible thing to happen.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Georgie is a constant.

She's not someone who values the things

that a lot of people think are important.

She could take it or leave it, the World Championship.

But she was very aware of how much it meant to me.

PRESS: Damon! Damon! (CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)

WALKER: The 1996 Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix season

will be starting here at Melbourne.

Frank Williams said that you were a different man when you arrived.

What happened then? (PEOPLE LAUGH)

Oh, I don't know. Er...

I met my wife really, that was one thing.

She came out and, er...

She's obviously a good influence on me.

How do you win a championship? You've got to win the first race.

I just became practical.

Don't get involved in any issues. Just focus on your job.

WALKER: New track. New cars. New engines.

Major driver changes.

Michael Schumacher, who has gone to Ferrari.

Damon Hill's new teammate, Jacques Villeneuve, in pole position.

Jacques got pole for his first ever Formula 1 race,

which is an amazing achievement.

But I was not prepared to let him have that.

Damon Hill's all over the back of Villeneuve.

There's obviously a lot of fraught competition

between these two. The gloves are off.

Michael had gone to Ferrari, and they weren't quite ready yet.

He wasn't that competitive. So, it was between me and Jacques.

Damon Hill takes the lead ahead of Jacques Villeneuve.

Victory in Australia for Damon Hill.

And he's equalled his great father.

Fourteen Grand Prix wins for son and father.

I won the first three races in the season.

I can't really describe it.

It's been a long time since I've been leading the championship.

Obviously, I just feel top of the world at the moment

I mean, it's great.

("Three Lions" by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightening Seeds ON RADIO)

♪ It's coming home

♪ It's coming home

(SINGING ALONG): # It's coming

BOTH: # Football's coming home

♪ It's coming home

♪ It's coming

♪ Football's coming home... ♪

The next race was the Monaco Grand Prix.

MAN: Hi, Damon. Damon.

How are you doing?

Damon, what does Monaco mean to you,

especially concerning the success of your father here?

It's a great record that he had.

He won five times, which was beaten by Ayrton, he won six times.

I'd like to win here and then it would be Hill six and Senna six.

(LAUGHS) But, erm... I think I'd like to win just for myself.

WALKER: Alesi is 28 seconds behind Damon Hill. Hill, there,

continues to have this race totally under control.

(ENGINE ROARING)

And he's confident. He's really achieved new levels this year.

And smoke out of the back of the Williams!

Damon Hill out for the Monaco Grand Prix!

He was not destined to win this race.

I knew that it's never going to be plain sailing from beginning to end.

I always knew that there was a middle bit of the season

where your nerves are tested and your confidence could be shaken.

Especially if you don't expect it.

Damon Hill's future in Grand Prix motor racing

has been thrown into doubt after being dropped

by his Williams Renault team for next season.

Hill, who leads this season's Drivers' Championship,

had been negotiating a new contract with the team.

Frank phoned me up and told me, "Listen,

I'm just here to tell you that we've got to do what's right for the team

and that we've got a German driver coming,

and you don't have a drive with us for next year."

I'd like to give you the opportunity here today to speak to me,

ask any questions you have, so that over the weekend

I can concentrate on the job of winning the race.

If you want to fire away, then I'm ready for it.

WALKER: Damon, the world at large would expect you to feel hurt,

downcast, angry, disillusioned.

What are your feelings?

In a correct world, you'd be judged on your performances

and that would be rewarded

with another opportunity to show what you can do.

This deal was done at the end of '95,

and it was linked to a long-term plan for Frank to get BMW engines.

German driver, BMW engines.

And you're just a pawn in that game.

(ENGINES REVVING)

WALKER: Hill's got away well.

I'd got away, and now I'm fired up because I've been sacked.

Damon Hill has impressed mightily.

This must have been the most difficult weekend of his career.

I get a bit of a gap when I suddenly think to myself,

"OK, Damon, calm down. You're driving like a maniac.

Just knock it back a notch."

And I come up to this chicane, all the focus went.

Oh! Look! Look! Look!

He's hit the... It's Hill!

It's Damon Hill!

He's out!

You can see from the way he is holding his head

that's he's absolutely distraught.

It was my mistake. I got caught out.

But... I thought, "I'm not done yet."

(CHILD FUSSES)

Give Daddy a kiss night night.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

'Last race.'

Good girl. Sweet dreams. Night, night.

'I got one more chance.'

Have a nice sleep.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Anything can happen. Damon can make a mistake.

The car can break down, and that can happen to me as well.

So, until the last lap...

of the next race, we'll fight for it.

Stepping into the car,

even though I hadn't had much sleep, as I could not sleep,

I just thought, "I've done everything I possibly can do.

I've given 100%," you know.

I honestly had.

I didn't care about the doubts of others.

I just thought, "I want to win."

WALKER: The Japanese Grand Prix is... go!

And a brilliant start by Damon Hill, and Villeneuve has been passed.

(INAUDIBLE SPEECH)

COMMENTATOR: And what a superb start there from Damon Hill.

His relief will be absolutely enormous

because not only has he got away first,

he will know that Villeneuve is well back in his mirrors.

And there is Jacques Villeneuve, and he's down in sixth position,

so he really has got it all to do.

Damon has got to play it very cool indeed

as Gerhard Berger comes right up alongside him

and goes over the curb at the chicane. Damon Hill rebuffed him

but at the same time kept the Williams clear of the Benetton,

and look at the gap he's pulled out.

Damon has really got a great opportunity now.

Things looking very, very good indeed.

Ooh, watch it Jonathan, we've all said that.

Remember at Monza, Damon Hill was in the lead,

commandingly, and on lap six, he hit that tyre barrier.

Well, there are no tyre barriers to hit here.

And here is Damon Hill, race leader.

(WHEEL GUNS WHIRR) (ENGINE REVS)

Damon Hill is going to rejoin, is he, just in front of the Ferrari?

Yes, he is!

Wow! That is in full face of Jacques Villeneuve.

Now things are really, really getting hot in Japan.

Damon, he needs to keep pushing on pretty hard because

he will know he can't underestimate that Canadian teammate of his.

And that is... Villeneuve! It's Villeneuve.

The wheel goes past him. It goes over! Into the crowd!

Oh, my goodness. I do hope that nobody was hurt.

ENGINEER: "Jacques is out. Jacques is out of the race."

Going round, they said, "Jacques out."

And they said, "Well done, you're world champion."

(EMOTIONAL MUSIC)

Les Jones, who's one of Damon Hill's mechanics,

said they've passed on the good news to their driver,

but Damon has not responded at all.

He's concentrating very hard on the job in hand.

Yeah. That's called keeping your mind on what is really happening.

ENGINEER: "This is the last lap, Damon."

It's a long road.

And you can say it started when my dad died.

The teams in their blue-and-white caps,

matching the helmet of Damon Hill,

which matches the helmet of his great father, Graham Hill.

He is almost home.

This is something that many people

didn't think could possibly happen today.

They thought Damon would drive a cautious race. But he fought.

He fought from second on the grid, he passed Jacques Villeneuve,

he took the lead, he stayed there.

Damon Hill exits the chicane...

...and wins the Japanese Grand Prix.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And I've got to stop because I've got a lump in my throat.

I had just literally completed the mission.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And suddenly... the impact hits me.

Hits me what I've done.

What I've been able to drag out of myself.

You're aware of the journey that you've been on.

And then also how much I miss my dad.

Daddy!

And how much he would like to have known about his son.

But...

in some other curious way, you kind of feel like he does know.

ANNOUNCER: Well done to Damon Hill, the new world champion.

(THRILLING MUSIC)

(PERSON WHISTLING)

(MUSIC CONTINUES)

(KIDS CHATTER) (LAUGHS)

GEORGIE: Three, two, one...

(SOFT MUSIC)

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