Born on 17 September 1960 in London, Damon Hill is the son of two-time world champion Graham Hill. He began motorsport in motorcycle racing in 1981, progressed through British Formula Ford, Formula Three, and Formula 3000, and joined the Williams Formula One team as a test driver in 1992. He earned his first race victory at the 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix and subsequently became Michael Schumacher's principal rival through the mid-1990s, losing the 1994 title by a single point following their collision at the Australian Grand Prix.
Hill won the 1996 championship with Williams, taking eight victories. Despite winning the title, he was released by Williams before the season ended, replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen for 1997.
As 1996 World Champion, Hill attracted interest from McLaren, Benetton, and Ferrari. Instead he signed with Arrows, a team that had spent two decades in Formula One without winning a race and had scored only one point the previous year. The Arrows A18 used Bridgestone tyres — the Japanese manufacturer's debut in Formula One — and Yamaha engines, neither combination initially regarded as competitive.
The season began poorly. Hill only narrowly qualified for the opening Australian Grand Prix and retired on the parade lap. The combination of unproven tyres and an underpowered engine left Arrows outside the points for much of the season; Hill did not score his first point for the team until the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July.
The high point of Hill's Arrows year came at the Hungaroring. Bridgestone's tyres proved better suited to the slow, twisting circuit than the Goodyear rubber used by most rivals. Hill qualified in third place — far beyond anything the car's form suggested — and from the start he ran at the front of the order, eventually passing Michael Schumacher on track. He led the race by 35 seconds over eventual 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve with only a few laps remaining.
A hydraulic failure dramatically slowed the Arrows, allowing Villeneuve to pass. Hill finished second — a result that remained one of the most memorable drives of his career and one of the very few times Arrows led a grand prix. Despite finishing second, the race underscored both the singular opportunity the Bridgestone advantage had presented and the mechanical fragility that plagued the team.
Hill left Arrows after just one season and joined the Jordan team for 1998 and 1999. At the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix he gave Jordan their maiden Formula One victory. He retired from racing at the end of the 1999 season.
The 1997 Arrows season is remembered as one of the sport's great what-ifs. Hill's decision to join the team — turning down more competitive offers — was widely criticised at the time, and the car rarely matched expectations. Yet the Hungarian Grand Prix performance demonstrated that Hill remained a top-tier talent capable of exploiting any competitive window. After retirement he became president of the British Racing Drivers' Club in 2006, presided over a long-term Silverstone contract, and later joined the Sky Sports F1 broadcasting team. He published his autobiography, Watching the Wheels, in 2016.