{"id":804520,"date":"2026-07-16T00:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T00:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/804520\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T00:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T00:11:17","slug":"damon-hill-reveals-the-f1-career-lesson-he-wishes-he-had-learned-earlier-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/804520\/","title":{"rendered":"Damon Hill reveals the F1 career lesson he wishes he had learned earlier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1996 Formula 1 champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/damon-hill\/1443\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Damon Hill<\/a> has admitted he realised &#8220;a little bit too late&#8221; in his career how crucial it is for a driver to actively galvanise the workforce around them.<\/p>\n<p>Pointing to the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/michael-schumacher\/60\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Michael\u00a0Schumacher<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/sebastian-vettel\/6936\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sebastian Vettel<\/a> as the benchmark, Hill discussed the psychological and leadership demands placed on modern F1 drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During a live recording of the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/TUSWbu063HU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-custom-text=\"1\">Up To Speed podcast<\/a> in front of an audience at the Goodwood Festival of Speed alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/williams\/13\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Williams<\/a> team principal James Vowles, Hill argued that understanding how to build a collaborative relationship with the factory is the true key to unlocking sustained on-track success.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No racing driver should be satisfied with where they are unless they&#8217;re winning,&#8221; the Briton explained. &#8220;But they have to understand that occasionally you have to build something with the team because actually that&#8217;s how you get to the end result.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The team produces the car; the team will give you the equipment, and they&#8217;ll give you the wherewithal to win. So, it&#8217;s how you work with people as a driver.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hill admitted that his own unique route into the championship meant he did not take the same approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/damon-hill-1.jpg\" alt=\"Damon Hill\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Damon Hill<\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: JEP \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t fully understand that. I came into Williams as an understudy, in a way, and also someone who was a test driver, and so I didn&#8217;t get the same need to galvanise a team around you and inspire the people,&#8221; he continued.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I was with Alain\u00a0Prost and Nigel [Mansell], they were the people who were doing that to me in my mind, and so I think I learned that a little bit too late. I wish I&#8217;d known that more early on because the more I hear about people like Michael [Schumacher] and various great drivers is they&#8217;re brilliant at galvanising the team behind them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sebastian Vettel is also like that. And I&#8217;m sure Lewis [Hamilton]\u00a0has done the same when he&#8217;s gone to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/ferrari\/3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ferrari<\/a> as well. He&#8217;s made sure that they believe in him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>            We want your opinion!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1996 Formula 1 champion Damon Hill has admitted he realised &#8220;a little bit too late&#8221; in his career&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[3272,49,48,39259,282952,578,282831,576,577,82,4962],"class_list":["post-804520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-belgian-gp","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-damon-hill","tag-damon-hill-reveals-the-f1-career-lesson-he-wishes-he-had-learned-earlier","tag-f1","tag-f1-belgian-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-trendingteam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}