Damon Hill was born in 1960 to Graham and Bette Hill. Graham Hill was also a racing driver in the international Formula One series.
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Damon Graham Devereux Hill is a British former racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. Hill was born on 17 September 1960 in Hampstead, London, to Graham and Bette Hill. Graham Hill was a racing driver in the international Formula One series. He won the world Drivers’ Championship in 1962 and 1968, and became a well-known personality in the United Kingdom. By 1975 the family lived in a “25-room country mansion” in Hertfordshire and Damon attended the independent The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School.
The death of his father in an airplane crash in 1975 left the 15-year-old Hill, his mother, and sisters Samantha and Brigitte in drastically reduced circumstances. Hill worked as a laborer and a motorcycle courier to support his further education. After retirement in 1999 Hill has continued to be involved with cars and motorsport. He founded the Prestige and SuperCar Private Members Club P1 International with Michael Breen in 2000. British Sky Broadcasting signed Hill to join their F1 presentation team on Sky Sports F1 as a British driver’s pundit starting from the 2012 Formula One World Championship.
Hill started his motorsport career in motorcycle racing in 1981. He won a 350 cc clubman’s championship at the Brands Hatch circuit. Hill had only sporadic single-seater races until the end of 1984. He graduated through British Formula Ford, winning six races driving a Van Diemen for Manadient Racing in 1985, his first full season in cars, and finishing third and fifth in the two UK national championships. He also took third place in the final of the 1985 Formula Ford Festival, helping the UK to win the team prize.
For 1986, Hill planned to move up to the British Formula Three Championship with title-winning team West Surrey Racing. In Europe in the 1990s, a successful driver would usually progress from Formula Three either directly to Formula One, the pinnacle of the sport, or to the International Formula 3000 championship. However, Hill did not have enough sponsorship available to fund a drive in F3000. He took a one-off drive in the lower level British F3000 championship and shared a Porsche 962 at Le Mans for Richard Lloyd Racing, where the engine failed after 228 laps.
Hill started his Grand Prix career during the 1991 season as a test driver with the championship-winning Williams team while still competing in the F3000 series. However, midway through 1992 Hill broke into Grand Prix racing as a driver with the dying Brabham team. The formerly competitive team was in serious financial difficulties. Hill started the season only after three races, replacing Giovanna Amati after her sponsorship had failed to materialize. When Mansell’s teammate Riccardo Patrese left Williams to drive for Benetton in 1993, Hill was unexpectedly promoted to the race team alongside triple World Champion Alain Prost ahead of more experienced candidates such as Martin Brundle and Mika Häkkinen.
| Races | 115 |
| Wins | 22 |
| Poles | 20 |
| Podiums | 42 |
| Points | 360 |
Read more: Alain Prost
According to sources, Damon Hill has a net worth of approximately $30 million as of 2022. His racing career has been the major contributor to his wealth. When he won the title at Williams, his salary was quoted at £6m, but took a paycut when he signed for the Arrows. His contract with Jordan was significantly lesser at £5m, but he made a lot of wealth in his career from 1992 to 1999. Hill has earned decent amounts of money through his endorsements as well he was signed to Etihad Airways, Ricoh, AGV, Cellnet among others in his career.
Hill is married to Susan George who was born on 29 April 1961. The couple have four children Oliver born on 4 March 1989, Joshua born on 9 January 1991, Tabitha born on 19 July 1995 and Rosie born on 1 February 1998. Oliver was born with Down syndrome and Hill and Georgie are both patrons of the Down’s Syndrome Association. Joshua started racing in 2008, competing in the British Formula Renault Championship in 2011. Joshua retired from motor racing in 2013.
American bank MBNA
Cellnet
Harrods
Lucien Rochat
Ricoh
AGV
