Damon Hill had the possibility to race alongside Michael Schumacher at Ferrari.
Damon Hill opened up on the time he rejected a Ferrari contract (Picture: Getty)
Damon Hill has claimed he rejected “a really beneficiant provide” to race for Ferrari throughout his Method 1 profession. Hill is considered one of Britain’s best motorsport stars, having received the 1996 title with Williams after a few seasons through which he was denied championship glory by arch-rival Michael Schumacher.
However regardless of delivering F1’s final prize for the crew, Hill was let go by Williams on the finish of that 1996 season. He by no means once more had the possibility to drive a automotive that gave him a shot on the championship, signing for Arrows for the ’97 marketing campaign which yielded only one podium, whereas just one extra victory can be forthcoming, with Jordan in 1998, earlier than retiring the next yr.
Now 65, Hill was a distinguished pundit for a few years on Sky Sports activities and now hosts a podcast with fellow British former F1 racer Johnny Herbert. The latter was team-mate to Schumacher all through the second season through which the German received the title with Benetton, in 1995, and requested Hill on a current episode of their present if he would have ever thought of driving for Ferrari – the crew with which Schumacher would go on to have a lot success and an iconic partnership.
“I can think about there may need been a state of affairs,” Hill replied, “I had, a mainly elementary rule, which was, I wish to be in the most effective automotive, with the most effective probability of success. “So, you already know, if it had been the most effective automobiles…”
Hill went on to disclose that there have been, the truth is, critical talks at one level with crew boss Jean Todt about becoming a member of the Scuderia. He didn’t specify through which yr, however hinted that it might have been an choice for him for the 1997 season after he was let go by Williams.
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“And so I did go to Italy, and I met him at a home. He mentioned, ‘You would need to be quantity two to Michael’. It is not a proposal you may’t refuse, is it? It is a proposal it’s a must to refuse.” The Brit added that it was a “very beneficiant provide” prolonged to him by Todt, however nonetheless that didn’t sway his choice.
Hill ended the subject of dialog by declaring that Todt appeared to have forgotten all about their conversations on the matter, including: “Possibly I ought to have completed it, perhaps I ought to have simply gone. Anyway, it would not matter, as a result of somebody requested Jean Todt that years in the past and he denied that I ever went and spoke with him. I should have dreamt it!”
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