No family can match the Hills, as it is the only family to date to have produced a World Champion son to follow in the wheel tracks of a World Champion father - Damon hit the high note in 1996 after Graham was champion both in 1962 and 1968.

Aged only 15 when father Graham died in a light aircraft crash, Damon prefered motorbikes and did not take to cars until 1983. Having shown useful speed in Formula Ford in 1985 against the likes of Bertrand Gachot, Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell, he advanced to Formula Three the following year. Wins started to flow in 1987 and Damon finished third overall in 1988 behind JJ Lehto and Gary Brabham.

Three seasons of Formula 3000 followed, with the second seeing Damon lead race after race in his Middlebridge Lola in 1990 before retiring. The most important event, though, was signing a testing deal with Williams in 1991.

There was no opening in Williams' race line-up for 1992, though, so Damon made his Formula One debut for Brabham. The car was less than competitive, though, and he qualified just twice. All was not lost, however, as Damon gained useful test mileage for Williams and the team signed him for 1993. With the three-time champion Alain Prost as team-mate, Damon truly had someone to judge himself against and showed his skills. Having been robbed of wins in Britain and Germany, he made his breakthrough with victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix and followed this with wins in Belgium and Italy to rank third overall.

Prost was dropped to make way for Ayrton Senna for 1994 and Damon was thrust into the role of team leader on Ayrton's death in the fourth race of the campaign.

Just as his father had before him, he had to heal a team in mourning (Lotus lost Jim Clark in 1968) and achieved a morale-boosting win in Spain. The year became fraught with Michael Schumacher's disqualifications and Damon closed the gap by winning four more races. Victory in Japan set the stage for a last round shoot-out, and Michael's chop that took Damon out in Australia was seen the world over.

Despite winning two of the first three races in 1995, Damon won only twice more, to end up second again after several shunts with Schumacher.

His dream was realized in 1996, though, when Damon started with four wins from the first five races. However, a mid-season dip and the winning progress of his team-mate Jacques Villeneuve saw the title race go to the final round in Japan. There Damon controlled the race for his eighth win and took the crown.

With the top seats already filled, he joined Arrows for 1997. The season was going nowhere when Damon led until the final lap in Hungary, salvaging second place as his gearbox failed.

Wanting more, he headed for Jordan for 1998, and there he turned around a team in trouble into a winning outfit by the 13th race, at Spa-Francorchamps. His second year with Jordan was a poor one, so he retired.

Reproduced from The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Formula One published by Carlton Books