Hill's Achilles Heel Strikes Again

by Andrew Frankl
TACH European Bureau

Portuguese Grand Prix:
1.Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1 hour 4O.22.9
2.Damon Hill Williams-Renault

Jacques Villeneuve drove an aggressive, flat-out race to keep his championship hopes alive by winning in Estoril, scene of the penultimate race of the season. After a pretty mediocre start he was back in fourth place for a long while. In the meantime championship leader Damon Hill made the best start of his career and pulled away from his pursuers. At that point it looked very much as though the race and the championship would return to Britain after a gap of three years. The whole of Britain was glued to TV sets willing on the 36 year old father of three to do for Britain which so many of her athletes failed to do in Atlanta. It was not to be. The young Canadian passed Schumacher in a truly sensational manoeuvre on the outside of Turn 13, a place where NOBODY passes. And yet Jacques went wide and drove past double world champion Michael Schumacher, something he later attributed to his oval racing experience. It was an astonishing piece of overtaking which enabled him to close the gap on Hill and Alesi. Behind them there were all sorts of battles, the most amusing being the one between the two McLaren drivers-Hakkinen and ulthard-who managed to hit each other which must have pleased team boss Ron Dennis a great deal. Irvine and Berger were also having an almighty ding-dong, with passing and re-passing but this time without contact between the cars. Even Schumacher managed to give Alesi's Benetton a little shove on one of the slower corners.

At the front Hill's lead started to dwindle and whilst he was still ahead it became clear that everything hinged on the last pit-stop. In he roared to have new tyres and more fuel. Just over seven seconds and he was on his way back on to the track. In the meantime Villeneuve did a quick lap in the lead and then steamed into the pits at a rate of knots. We are talking seconds but when the gap between two drivers IS one second it could make the difference. And it did! Villeneuve stormed back into the race a few yards ahead of Hill and from then on he won as he pleased.

Afterwards Patrick Head, the Technical Director of Williams Engineering implied that Villeneuve not so much won the race as Hill lost it. There were some mutterings about a faulty clutch but the impression we got from Head was that yet again it was Hill's Achilles heel that caused the trouble, namely overtaking. Or rather his somewhat timid appproach to it. None of which can take anything away from Villeneuve's efforts. He never put a foot wrong apart from the start and even that is understandable, he had to finish to keep his hopes of the Championship alive. As it is these are pretty slim, Hill is 9 points ahead and the maximum Villeneuve can get for winning in Suzuka is 10. He would have to win and Damon would have to finish outside the first six-a pretty tall order. Whatever the outcome, Bernie Ecclestone and organisers of the Japanese Grand Prix will be mightily pleased.

As far as Hill's future is concerned there seem to be two possibilities-either he accepts an offer from Jordan or from Jackie Stewart's new team. The big teams-Benetton and Ferrari-have put up the no vacancy signs.

Portuguese Grand Prix:
1. Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1 hour 4O.22.9
2. Damon Hill Williams-Renault
3. M.Schumacher Ferrari
4. Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault
5. Eddie Irvine Ferrari
6. G.Berger Benetton-Renault

The world championship with one race to go:

1. D.Hill 87 points.
2. J.Villeneuve 78 points.
No-one can win the 1966 Drivers' Championship.

Postscript.

The British papers were full of Damon's failure to clinch the Championship. Most of the dailies sent up to three journalists to cover the coronation of King Hill.It was not to be. Now the situation is getting quite serious for him. The big teams have shut their doors and the little ones have less money. Furthermore, his somewhat timid showing at Estoril did not enhance his prospects of employment. According to inside sources his fate at Williams was sealed a year ago when he kept crashing into Schumacher or spinning out like a beginner. At that time there was no-one else available so Williams had to keep him for 1996.

Then Damon stated winning and Williams were amazed. Up until Hill's manager turned up and demanded 15 million dollars for his man's services for l997. At that point Frank Williams who always felt that almost anyone could have been championin his excellent cars blew a fuse and signed the German Frentzen whom he always admired. He wanted someone who could keep up with Schumacher and Frank was convinced that Hill was not up to the job. The Portuguese race seems to have vindicated him. To give away a 15 second lead, to lose 5 seconds in one lap because of back-markers - this is something that Williams could not tolerate. Senna, Mansell, Schumacher would have sailed past those guys without slowing down or hesitating.

Hill now faces a further problem. If he does go to Jordan he will have as a partner Ralf Schumacher, Michael's 21 year old brother. Should Schumahcer junior prove to be quicker the humiliation would be simply too much to bear. Jackie Stewart's keen interest in Damon is understandable, his new team needs a good test-driver which Hill most certainly is. They also have a 5 year exclusive on the new Ford engine so theoretically the British driver could be on to a good thing.

I, for one, would like to see him in that team. It is family. Jackie was team-mate and friend of Graham Hill, father of Damon. Bette, Graham's wife is a close friend. The team would be a close unit with no chance of bickering, there would be a certain pioneering spirit about the whole thing. Negotiations are taking place at present and we may know before the final race at Suzuka. Or not. If I were a team owner I would wait at least keep my options open as far as the money is concerned. Signing a world champion with No 1 on his car is one thing, settling for a driver who lost it all having had a 25 point lead is another. If nothing else it keeps the pot boiling.

Yesterday's story from Portugal