Martin Donnelly on Damon Hill: My Greatest Rival

This has to be my friend Damon ‘The Champ’ Hill and goes back to the days of the ‘Rat Pack’ in British Formula 3 in the 1980s. Our rivalry came to a head at the Scotland Superprix at Knockhill in September ’87 when we were team-mates at Cellnet Racing in Ralt-Toyota RT31s run by Intersport. That month I’d won at Brands and Damon had won at Spa. We were in a big battle, and the atmosphere was, shall we say, strained.

“The race in Scotland was a very big deal for Cellnet. Big prize money, live on TV, and we were there from midweek. We qualified on the front row, almost identical times, Damon on pole. It was clearly going to be tight, so the organisers wanted to start us one by one, but on the grid the marshals lined us up two by two.

“At the start I moved right, easing Damon towards the marbles at the edge of the track, and going down to the first corner we both locked our front brakes. He shot across my bows, missing me by millimetres, went across the grass and into the barrier. So, red flag, re-start, an easy win for me and a new lap record. Back in the paddock it was very tense, the team split in two, Damon’s side not happy. But it got a lot worse.

“On the Monday we were summoned to Cellnet’s head office in London to explain ourselves. They told us, ‘We know we have the best team, the best engines, and we thought we had the best drivers, but that is clearly not the case. You are both relieved of your drives with us. Please return your phones and your company cars.’

“It was devastating. We were well-paid, with free mobiles, free cars, and I had a mortgage. Then, three weeks later, we got a fax from them saying, ‘Let this be a lesson to you. There’s no big I am in this team. We are paying our drivers to adhere to team regulations,’ and we were reinstated.

“When Damon won the Formula 1 world championship the newspapers asked me about being his team-mate. I said he got us both sacked in Formula 3, and Damon’s wife didn’t speak to me for about 10 years after that. Anyway, thankfully it’s all good now.

“The rivalry continued into Formula 3000. We had another coming-together there, so Damon and I were great rivals for years. It was very strained at times, to put it mildly, but you are always compared to your team-mate. He is the one you have to beat.

“I was pleased for Damon when he took the title in ’96. He had great determination. Up against Senna as his team-mate he rose to the challenge and became a better driver. Maybe not always the quickest but in the right car at the right time he was the best and won the F1 title. That’s no mean feat.”

Martin Donnelly and Damon Hill head-to-head

Stats taken from British Formula 3 1986-88