Damon Hill grabs 'last chance' F1 title to make history in highly unusual circumstances

Thirty years ago today, Damon Hill won the 1996 F1 drivers' championship at Suzuka, beating team-mate Jacques Villeneuve to the title in a race that doubled as his farewell to Williams.

It remains one of the sport's toughest ironies: the team that had just built him a championship-winning car had already told him he would not be driving the next one in 1997.

Hill started second on the grid behind Villeneuve, who had claimed pole but needed only to finish fourth to deny Hill the crown outright.

The Canadian's start unravelled that plan almost immediately. Villeneuve suffered heavy wheelspin off the line, dropping from first to sixth before the first corner and handing the lead straight to Hill. From there the Englishman controlled the race, never seriously troubled at the front.

The title was sealed with brutal finality on lap 37, when the right-rear wheel of Villeneuve's FW18 detached approaching Turn 1, sending him into the gravel and out of the race. The loose wheel bounced clear over the debris fence near spectators, though nobody was struck.

Hill went on to win by almost two seconds from Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, formally ending the German's dominance of F1 over the past two years, with Mika Häkkinen completing the podium for McLaren.

A bittersweet farewell

Williams had already agreed terms with Heinz-Harald Frentzen for 1997, a decision driven by Frank Williams' faith in the German's raw speed and, some accounts suggest, commercial pressure to field a German driver given Schumacher's popularity.

Talks over Hill's own contract had broken down over money. Williams technical director Patrick Head later recalled the Briton's manager delivering an ultimatum directly to Frank Williams' desk.

"Instead of Damon coming in himself, Michael [Breen] came in, and he wasn't the most charming of characters," Head said, speaking to Beyond The Grid.

"He put his briefcase on Frank's desk, and he was the sort of character that if he could have put his boots up on Frank's desk he would have done so. He was an arrogant piece of work and he said to Frank, 'Damon will not consider driving for you for anything less than a figure that was five times his 1995 salary'."

Frank Williams would later admit the call to let Hill go was wrong, telling F1 Racing Magazine years afterwards: "It was a mistake. We thought we could find a better driver, but it was a mistake."

At 36, with no guaranteed front-running drive for 1997 and Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows team unable to confirm a car would even be ready, Hill knew Suzuka was unlikely to come again. Speaking after the race, he was candid about the stakes.

"To be honest, it had to be this year for me, and I'm really, really delighted," Hill said in the post-race press conference.

"I knew everyone in the team wanted the win, and I wanted to give it to them. I am sorry to be going, but what a way to leave."

Schumacher, bidding for a third straight title before Ferrari's rebuild delayed his project by a year, was gracious in defeat. "A driver who manages to start every single race of the year on the front row and wins half of the races is a truly worthy champion," the German said.

Hill later recalled the German's sportsmanship in parc fermé. "It was nice to finish ahead of Michael, who was very generous and congratulated me at the end," he said. "I got a handshake from him."

The end of an era, twice over

Suzuka 1996 also closed the book on Martin Brundle's Formula 1 career, though he did not know it at the time.

The Jordan driver finished fifth, the same result as his debut twelve years earlier, and believed the result had earned him a contract extension.

"I finished fifth in my final F1 race as I finished fifth in my first F1 race," Brundle told Sky Sports F1. "It was Japan 1996. Long story, actually; I thought I was driving for Eddie in '97. When I see drivers getting farewell tours and all that sort of thing, I'm slightly envious."

Hill's triumph made him the first son of a world champion to win the title himself, following Graham Hill's championships with BRM and Lotus in the 1960s, a landmark that would stand alone until Nico Rosberg matched it twenty years later.

It came at the cost of his Williams seat, a drive he would swap for a single, difficult season at Arrows before finding redemption with Jordan's maiden win at Spa-Francorchamps in 1998.