Damon Hill Quotes

• "At the start of the year, I felt that given the machinery, there were bound to be places where I would win because of sheer chance. I didn't want to rely on that because I knew I had to show my ability. So I looked at the season and made an assessment as to where my best opportunities might come."
• "Because it is my second season with the team, no time has been wasted in getting to know the people I'm working with. I am aware of what the team is capable of and how the organisation works, and they are familiar with what makes me tick."
• "Failure should be nothing more than an embarrassment, like ending up in a gravel trap, rather than spending weeks in hospital."
• "I am not allowing myself to get carried away."
• "I am surprised people took so long to pick up on the fact that my contract expires at the end of this year. Eddie has to decide who he wants to drive, so there is no secret anywhere. I am not concerned. It does not sit with my objectives to be competitive."
• "I am very much aware that if I am getting good press at the moment I could just as easily be getting bad press. I cannot have the good and forget the bad. You have to accept it both ways."
• "I had a lot of time to think, and that is not good for your mind. And when it actually happened, it was not so much a celebration but the relief. It was an exorcism anxiety. After each race there is a procedure in which you get taken off to the podium and the TV interviews."
• "I have always liked a challenge."
• "I nearly won the British Grand Prix in 1993, but missed out when the engine gave up on me. That moment was one of sheer disappointment."
• "I think at times I appear to be miserable when I am not... I might be having quite a good thought at that moment, but it seems I look miserable. I am not."
• "I try to keep myself on an even keel by trying to be as critical of myself as I am of other people. I try to separate my performance from myself."
• "I was happy in Hungary, but I would have been happier if it had been a great race where I'd come out on top-like at Spa, where I enjoyed myself. I really didn't enjoy myself in Hungary. It was more like slow torture."
• "If I am pushed I will push back, that is the way I am. I am very British. We don't like to be pushed around. When the chips are down we might have to step into grey areas."
• "If I am treated fairly, I like to do things in a fair manner. That is the way I have been all my career. I haven't tried to do things in an underhanded way."
• "If someone is being absolutely critical of me as a driver, what could they say? I am also critical of myself to try and keep things in perspective. That is very important."
• "If you lose the history of F1, that could be damaging to the long-term future of F1."
• "It completely astonishes me how often I get recognized by so many and such different people. That is a measure of the incredible appeal that F1 has."
• "It was five years since I'd won a race, so I was a bit bewildered."
• "It worries me sometimes the way some people get so worked up that they have to push and shove to get an autograph. If they are there, I will try and sign as many as I possibly can, but when people start pushing, you have little kids being crushed and I'd rather not be involved creating that kind of trouble."
• "Last year was a lifetime, a whole career in one season. We went from being the dregs to winners."
• "People ask me to describe myself, but it's a very personal thing. You don't feel comfortable."
• "People don't want to pick up their papers and see that everything went to plan and this was what was expected. So there is a hype factor because the journalists have to make more of it. I find it amusing. Look at the way they report on the England football team... I don't think anyone really believes all of it."
• "Realistically, we could aim for the top three in the constructors championship. Realistically, we could look at winning more races. Three race wins would be very satisfying."
• "Some books claim I have already clocked up a century of Grands Prix, but let me put the record straight. Australia will be my 100th start, and I aim to mark the milestone with a cracking performance. It could even be celebrated with a victory."
• "The British tend to shy away from the spotlight. We don't like being singled out in any way, and I think that is something which is important for me to learn to do."
• "The last time I felt so confident and excited about a coming season was in 1996 - the year I won my world title. There is a real air of expectancy surrounding the entire Jordan team, and I am itching to get down to business and race the new car in this weekend's curtain raiser in Melbourne."
• "The problem comes when you say that danger is part of the equation. Then you don't do any more work on safety. That shouldn't happen."
• "The sport would not survive today if drivers were being killed at the rate they were in the 1960s and '70s. It would have been taken off the air. It is beamed into people's living rooms on Sunday afternoons, with children watching."
• "The whole experience is rising to the challenge every time. You never know what might happen. You might be talking to the future world champion."
• "There are a lot of factors in the life of an F1 driver which can combine to make you believe that you are somehow above normality. I think that is a mistake to start believing that. But, at the same time, it is important to be confident."
• "There is a good atmosphere in the team which won't allow for any sort of primadonna-ish behavior."
• "There is a lot to be said for self-belief. It is a good part of the equation and I don't think that it was with us this time last year. There was more self-doubt then, whereas now we are starting to believe that we should be up there at the front."
• "To be honest, I think for part of my late teens my character didn't really develop very much. I was in a state of cold storage."
• "We came to the tracks where I knew I should show well, and I knew I had to play my joker and really go for it. Silverstone was the first place where I looked like I was going to win, and I felt good about Hockenheim, too."
• "Winter testing is essential but there comes a point where you have had enough of all the rehearsals and the pretend racing. You just want to get down to the real action."
• "You learn by experience, and overcoming setbacks make you stronger and means you are prepared for any eventuality. Now I am who I am, slightly batty in some ways, but in other ways fairly level-headed."
• "You should never feel comfortable. There is something wrong if you are. You should always feel under threat, on the edge of your seat and pushing yourself. Win one and you want to win more. It's never-ending."
• "Winning is everything. The only ones who remember you when you come second are your wife and your dog."