Damon Hill in 1999

Japan would be Damon Hill's last Formula One race and so the British fans were hoping for him to go out on a high note. However, once again qualifying was a bit lacklustre with only 12th place on the grid and some work to do for a points finish. The race wasn't much better, an early off saw him pit for a new nose and this meant that Damon was practically last. Damon had had enough and parked the car up about halfway through the race. It was a real shame and a sad way to end his F1 career as a driver. Murry Walker asked Damon what he would doing now and Damon says he is not going to forsake Formula 1. So we haven't seen the last of our Damon yet and after a deserved break we will hopefully see him back in the pits in some shape or form and we'll just have to see what that is. Thanks Damon for contribution to the sport and providing us with all those outstanding performances.

Retired

Well yet again Damon Hill fans were left disappointed witht the outcome of the Malaysian GP. The Jordan seemed to be a little off the pace at the new circuit and Damon managed to get his car up to 9th place on the grid, but with his team mate down in 14th. So the race began with the aim of making up places, however Fisichella went into the back of Damon and this spun Damon out on lap 1. Let's hope we get a better performance in Japan which will be Damon's last Grand Prix.

Retired

Well Damon was in the press again with rumours over what would be happening with the remainder of his season, and the race didn't change anything around that. Qualifying was wet to begin with and Damon was one of the first out to put a banker in. However, the rain stopped and the circuit dried. This left lots of cars on the circuit and Damon suffered in the traffic and qualified 7th. His team-mate faired better and secured pole position by leaving his flyer till the last minute. The race was a different story. Damon had a mechanical failure and slowed this caused Wurz to swerve to avoid him and caused a bad accident for Pedro Diniz in the Sauber. Fortunately Diniz was OK, but Damon's race was over before a lap was over.

Retired

Once again, rumours around Damon's retirement were rife in Italy. It was suggested that if Jordan can become secure in third place of the constructors championship he would leave before the end of the season. Hopefully this will not be the case, but it remains to be seen as once again Damon's performance was on the disappointing side. Frentzen was proving that the Jordan was very fast indeed nearly snatching pole position from the McLaren of Mika Hakkinen. Damon could only manage 9th place. The start of the race saw Damon keeping up with Eddie Irivine but after a poor pit stop he drifted away from the points and could only finish the race in 10th place. Rather disappointing seeing as his team mate won the thing and is still in with a chance of the world championship. Come on Damon you can do better than this!

Finished 10th

Well it was looking good for Damon over the weekend in Spa. The Jordan was going very well and in qualifying there was a good battle between him and his teammate for 3rd and 4th on the grid, with Damon only being edged out from 3rd to 4th in the last few minutes of qualifying. The race was a different story though. Damon made a very poor start and dropped down into 7th place. Overtaking proved particularly difficult for Damon as well despite the two Williams ahead of him carrying more fuel as they had opted for 1 stop. Damon made a quick first stop and this helped him past. However the 1 stop for Ralf Schumacher was a great move and Ralf finished 5th with Damon behind in 6th for another championship point. So Damon has 4 races left now and let's hope he can continue to finish in the points and get a podium before he retires.

Finished 6th

Well Damon hadn't qualified any lower than 4th in Hungary and it was looking like he was going to get a good qualifying position once again. He had to make do with 6th place just behind Frentzen, but I'm sure Damon was reasonably happy with that. The race was one of reliability and pit stops, not overtaking looked possible from any car and Damon's Jordan wasn't looking like it would be any different. So reliability saw Damon finish where he started in 6th place. A point in the bag but we return to Spa next and if you remember Damon won that one! Let's hope he can get higher up the points there.

Finished 6th

Well Damon's excuse for a poor qualifying session was that he was getting too old! Frentzen had put the car on the front row but all Damon could do was 8th. The race was a bit of a disaster too. Damon kept locking his brakes and going off the circuit and it was clear he was going to struggle to get in the points. Damon decided he had enough and retired the car, much to the team's surprise. So was it the brakes or has Damon lost his touch. Hungary will be the test, this is Damon's circuit and he had better get a good result, otherwise he should move aside and let a new face take his seat, cos both cars should be finishing in the points.

Retired

Well Damon was at Austria and looking to capitalise on his fine 5th position at Silverstone. It looked for a brief moment that he would do to, with Damon setting the fastest time on Friday. However, qualifying was more disappointing with Damon only able to take 11th place on the grid. The race was pretty much a similar story, with a few places made up mainly due to retirements and crossing the line in 8th place. Maybe not quite the weekend Damon was looking for, but it's still good to see him out there.

Finished 8th

Well the main question here is was it Damon's last race?? We still don't know. We all think it might be, but there's no announcement at time of writing. What do you all think? I think it was a great performance on the pace all weekend and a very good high point to bow out on. However, a good result may have given him the urge to win again! We don't know for sure, but whatever, it's probably Damon's last British GP and a great one to remember. Damon was pretty much as fast as Frentzen with only a 10th between them on the grid and Damon in a good 6th place. Nobody thought there would be a win but it showed that Damon was still very commited. During the race he pretty much remained station with some good pressure from Barrichello. Damon kept his cool and at one point with a pit stop still to come, Damon was in the lead of the race, and the crowd went balistic! What a great moment if somewhat short-lived. He eventually finished 5th, and that was very satisfying after recent performances.

Finished 5th

Well poor old Damon, there's not much to say really. France turned out to be a complete disaster from start to finish and ended up with him announcing that it could have been his last race. So what happened? Well for starters the rain came down and Damon found himself not even getting within the 107% qualifying time for a place on the grid. It was only after the Stewards declared exceptional circumstances that he managed to take the start. In the race he actually got a good start and made some places up. However the rain came down again and during Damon's pit stop he had a coming together with an Arrows and punctured a tyre. He came in and got that fixed and then whilst following the safety car his engine decided to malfunction. So the last thing we see of Damon is him parking the car in the garage. I just hope that is not the last team we see him in the Jordan, cos it will be such a sorry way for him to retire from the sport.

The fans are going to want to see him finish up at Silverstone and I think he should take that race opportunity and make it a celebration of his career and a chance for the fans to say a fond farewell to the world champion. Come on Damon, please please race for us in Britain, we don't want to remember our last racing moment of you as parking up in the garage!

Retired

Oh dear! Well it was another disappointing weekend for Damon. He had problems with his race car for qualifying and also with the spare which left him struggling to get up the grid. He had to make do with 14th on the grid. So once again he had to push to get up the field in the race, and he pushed too hard, smacking into the barriers at the last bend and going out of the race. Frentzen had a good race and had it not been for brakes exploding he would have finished 2nd. So the car can get to the podium places and Damon must do better in France and get on it!.

Retired

Once again the Jordan fell short of expectations with Hill qualifying in a poor 11th place, and also again behind Frentzen. In the race Damon managed to make up some places, but it wasn't enough to get in the points, finishing 7th. It appears that Eddie Jordan needs to do some work on speed, to give Hill the chance to perform better. I'm sure Hill can finish in the points consistently and they will need to do this if the Jordan team want to stay 3rd in the constuctor's championship.

Finished 7th

Well Monaco has got to be one of Damon's most disappointing races for a long while. He crashed his car badly in the morning session before qualifying and lost valuable track time. He couldn't find a good set up and he finished qualifying way down in 17th place. It is an impossible task from there where overtaking is so difficult. He tried to push in the race and he had to take risks, but unfortunately he tried too hard and ended up spinning off whilst trying to pass Ralf Schumacher in the Williams. Damon was the first to retire and he will be wanting to forget all about Monaco 1999. Another good result from Frentzen shows that the Jordan is still a very capable race car and Damon will need to prove this in Spain.

Retired

Two races gone, and Damon has no points, after being forced out by other cars. Damon needed to get some points in San Marino. Qualifying was OK, but with the cars only 7th and 8th, it could have been better. Still Damon made a great start in the race and he was able to run well. It appeared that he was catching Rubens Barrichello and a podium finish was on the cards. However, bad traffic saw Damon finish the race just behind Rubens Barrichello in 4th place. So Damon is off the mark now and the car seems competetive and reliable, let's hope in 2 weeks time we see Damon on the podium in Monaco.

Finished 4th

Brazil turned out to be quite a disappointing race for the British fans. Damon struggled over the weekend as it seemed everything was conspiring against him to make sure he got as little track time as possible. For some time Damon was down the bottom end of the field in qualifying. Fortunately, he managed to pull one out of the bag and take 7th place on the grid just ahead of his team-mate Frentzen. We was all hoping to see Damon on the podium at the end of the day. However, this was not meant to be, Damon found himself out after ten laps after having had some sort of coming together with Wurz which damaged the suspension.

Retired, suspension problem

Damon was really looking forward to the first GP. The car was on the pace and knocking on the door of the big two. We could have certainly expected a podium finish for Damon and the Jordan. Qualifying didn't go exactly to plan with Damon getting caught up in traffic on his final flying lap and having to settle for 9th on the grid, compared to Frentzen's excellent 5th. Nevertheless Damon would be looking to come through the field. In a great start Damon moved up a couple of places and was just into the lap when Trulli over-cooked it and pushed Damon off the circuit and into retirement. In what turned out to be a race of attrition the Jordan looked like it had the pace and the reliability as Frentzen showed by taking a great 2nd place. Despite this retirement, Jordan are looking really good for 1999.

Retired after being rudely pushed off by Trulli