The Hill–Schumacher rivalry was an individual sport rivalry that ran from 1994 to 1996 between two Formula One drivers: the British Damon Hill and the German Michael Schumacher.
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History
editHill and Schumacher bonded in 1993 as both drivers were seen as the new prospects following years of competition between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. At the end of the 1993 season Schumacher and Hill went scuba diving together in Australia. The two drivers competed fiercely and somehow unexpectedly in the 1994 season. Hill was a mainstay for Williams after Ayrton Senna died at Imola. At the British Grand Prix, Schumacher was disqualified and banned for two further races for overtaking Hill during the formation lap and ignoring the subsequent black flag.[1] Four more victories for Hill, three of which were in races where Schumacher was excluded or disqualified as in Belgium, where the Benetton's plank was found to be a few millimeters shorter than required, took the title battle to the final event at Adelaide. At Schumacher's first race since his ban, the European Grand Prix, he suggested that Hill (who was eight years his senior) was not a world-class driver. However, during the penultimate race at the Japanese Grand Prix, Hill took victory ahead of Schumacher in a rain-soaked event. This put Hill just one point behind the German before the last race of the season.[2]
Neither Hill nor Schumacher finished the season-closing Australian Grand Prix, after a controversial collision which gave the title to Schumacher. Schumacher ran off the track hitting the wall with the right-hand side of his Benetton while leading.[3] Coming into the sixth corner Hill moved to pass the Benetton and the two collided, breaking the Williams's front left suspension wishbone, and forcing both drivers' retirement from the race.[4] BBC Formula One commentator Murray Walker had often maintained that Schumacher did not cause the crash intentionally,[5] but Williams co-owner Patrick Head felt differently. In 2006 he said that at the time of the incident "Williams were already 100% certain that Michael was guilty of foul play" but did not protest Schumacher's title because the team was still dealing with the death of Ayrton Senna.[6]
In 1995, the rivalry between Hill and Schumacher heated up with seven incidents that occurred in that season, two of which led to suspended one-race bans for both. Schumacher's penalty was for blocking and forcing Hill off the road at the Belgian Grand Prix;[7] Hill's was for colliding with Schumacher under braking at the Italian Grand Prix.[8] For most of the season, Schumacher outperformed Hill, who sportingly admitted that the best man won. A key moment was the European Grand Prix, where Schumacher annihilated the competition and won the race while Hill retired. During the final lap, Schumacher found Hill clapping at the side of the track. Afterwards, in the press conference, he acknowledged Hill's gesture saying 'we're not friends but we respect each other'.
The rivalry between Hill and Schumacher began to decline in 1996. In that season Hill won the world title after defeating his teammate Jacques Villeneuve.[9] Meanwhile, Schumacher who moved to Ferrari was only able to win three races and could not compete as a genuine title challenger. At the final race in Japan, when asked about Hill's victory, Schumacher was complimentary. He congratulated Hill and praised his consistency through the season, stating that "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".[10]
Hill moved to Arrows for the 1997 season,[11] and then moved again to Jordan for 1998.[12] In those two teams he could not do much and then chose to retire at the end of the 1999 season.[13] Meanwhile, Schumacher in 1997 competed tightly against Villeneuve and in 1998–1999 against Mika Häkkinen from McLaren. In 1999 Hill and Schumacher were put together by F1 Racing magazine for a joint interview. They reminisced about their careers and discussed their need to put themselves in a difficult position in order to keep things interesting, Schumacher having moved to Ferrari and Hill to Jordan when both teams were not front runners. Hill later remembered Schumacher as "friendly, charming and with a broad smile".[14]
Relationship after retirement
editIn 2007, Hill explicitly accused Schumacher for intentionally causing an incident at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.[15]
In 2010 Hill was one of the driver stewards at the Monaco Grand Prix and had to penalize Schumacher for dangerous driving. "In fact, he had been typically clever and he knew the rules had an ambiguous loophole. But you can imagine: the irony of it. He thought it was quite funny too".[16]
Schumacher and Hill met for the last time at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 13, 2010, where the organizers managed to put together 18 Formula One champions for one photo shoot.
In December 2017, coinciding with four years after Schumacher's ski accident, Hill recalled his rivalry with Schumacher and chose to forgive Schumacher's actions that had harmed him.[17] He also added that what happened to his former rival is "beyond tragic", lamenting the fact that they will no longer be able to get to know each other better although "there is always hope".[18]
Formula One World Championship
edit| Driver | Entries | Championships | Wins | Pole positions | Fastest laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Damon Hill |
1992–1999 | 1 | 22 | 20 | 19 |
 Michael Schumacher |
1991–2006 2010–2012 |
7 | 91 | 68 | 77 |
Head-to-head results
edit| Driver | Championship position | Wins | Podiums | Championships | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | ||||
| Damon Hill
|
NC Brabham |
3rd Williams |
2nd Williams |
2nd Williams |
1st Williams |
12th Arrows |
6th Jordan |
12th Jordan |
22 | 42 | 1 |
| Michael Schumacher
|
3rd Benetton |
4th Benetton |
1st Benetton |
1st Benetton |
3rd Ferrari |
DSQ Ferrari |
2nd Ferrari |
5th Ferrari |
35 | 71 | 2 |
References
editCitations
- ^ Rendall (1997), p. 354.
- ^ Horton, Roger. "Reflections on a Racing Rivalry". AtlasF1.com. Haymarket Group. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
- ^ Benson, Andrew (28 May 2006). "Schumacher's chequered history". BBC Sport Online. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
- ^ "Grand Prix results: Australian GP, 1994". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
- ^ Walker (2002), p. 136.
- ^ "'Ruthless' Schumi blasted". Motoring.iAfrica.com. 19 July 2006. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
- ^ "Grand Prix Results: Belgian Grand Prix, 1995". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
- ^ "Grand Prix results: Italian GP, 1995". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
- ^ "Grand Prix results: Japanese GP, 1996". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
- ^ "Damon Hill on Michael Schumacher: My Greatest Rival". Archived from the original on 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Hill signs for Arrows! Archived 2022-07-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 July 2022
- ^ Jenkins, Pasternak & West (2016), p. 31.
- ^ Gordon, Ian (1 November 1999). "Final summit proves too steep for Hill to climb Damon Hill's career ended tamely yesterday as he pulled out of theJapanese Grand Prix admitting he was only thinking about his family, writes Ian Gordon". Birmingham Post. p. 28. ProQuest 326564287. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2020 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Damon Hill, Watching the Wheels, Macmilian, London, 2016.
- ^ Taylor, S. (2007). "Lunch with... Damon Hill". Motor Sport. LXXXIII/1: 38.
- ^ Damon Hill, Watching the Wheels, Macmillian, London, 2016.
- ^ Michael Schumacher 'forgiven' by Damon Hill Archived 2022-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, Express.co.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2018
- ^ Damon Hill, Watching the Wheels, Macmillian, London, 2016.
Bibliography
- Rendall, Ivan (1997) [1993]. The Chequered Flag: 100 Years of Motor Racing. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-83550-9.
- Walker, Murray (2002). My Autobiography: Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-712696-5.
- Jenkins, Mark; Pasternak, Ken; West, Richard (2016). Performance at the Limit: Business Lessons from Formula 1 Motor Racing. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107136120. Archived from the original on 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2022-08-05.