‘All good things come to an end’: Damon Hill to leave Sky Sports F1 after 13 years
Damon Hill has announced he is leaving his role as a Formula One pundit for Sky Sports after a “fantastic” 13 years with the broadcaster.
Hill, who followed in the footsteps of his legendary father Graham by winning the world drivers’ title in 1996, was one of the first faces on the channel after it gained the rights to broadcast F1 in 2012. But after a reduced schedule in recent years, he has now announced his exit on social media.
“It’s been a fantastic 13 years with Sky Sports F1 but all good things come to an end,” Hill, 64, wrote. “I will miss the most impressive bunch of professionals it has ever been my pleasure to have worked with. Looking forward to new challenges.”
Hill was one of three former champions on Sky Sports’ rolling roster of pundits alongside Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg and was part of their team operating at the last race in Brazil.
Former drivers Martin Brundle, Anthony Davidson, Naomi Schiff, Jamie Chadwick, Danica Patrick and Karun Chandhok also appear on the team.
It is unclear whether the race at Interlagos was Hill’s final race or whether he will feature in any of the last three races of the season.
Hill is fondly remembered by British Formula One fans for the way in which he came back to win the 1996 world title for Williams, having lost out to Michael Schumacher in hugely controversial circumstances in Adelaide two years earlier, after the German drove into him.
His father, two-time F1 world champion Graham, was the first, and to date only, man to win the Triple Crown of motorsport by taking the Le Mans and Indy 500 titles as well as the F1 world title.
A Sky Sports statement read: “We thank Damon Hill for 13 incredible years with the Sky Sports F1 team, where he has been an integral part of our coverage, bringing unparalleled insight, expertise, and passion to our broadcasts.
“His unique perspective, shaped by his own legendary racing career, has entertained and excited fans worldwide. We wish him all the best in his next chapter.”
Hill’s departure leaves a gaping hole in Sky F1’s coverage
The departure of Damon Hill from Sky Sports F1’s rolling roster of pundits leaves a gaping hole in their coverage. Principled, unafraid, and uniquely qualified to comment, his insights are always worth listening to.
British motorsport fans are biased, of course. Hill occupies a special place in our hearts. He represents a link between the glory days of old and the modern, Liberty Media-run machine. But he earned that affection.
Hill’s 1996 title will always be remembered for the way in which Murray Walker had to interrupt his own commentary because he had a “lump in his throat”. Many of those watching had that same lump. We had watched him grow up. We had watched him lose that 1994 title in the most heartbreaking fashion. We had watched him poking fun at himself in that Pizza Hut advert.
As a pundit, Hill is the same; self-deprecating, self-aware, he often provides a moral compass for the sport.
Has Hill paid the price for criticising Verstappen?
It is unclear why or how this decision was reached – whether it was Sky Sports F1’s doing, or his own. One hopes it had nothing to do with Hill’s criticism of Max Verstappen’s driving in Mexico recently. Hill had to defend himself from accusations of partisanship after that – and not for the first time either as far as Red Bull were concerned.
To his credit, though, Hill was always honest when asked for his insights. He felt Verstappen overstepped the mark in Mexico, he felt it was part of the Dutch driver’s character, and he was unafraid to say so. Is that not what we want from a pundit? Lest we forget, Hill was also quick to praise Verstappen after the race. “Silenced a few critics today,” he wrote after Verstappen came back to win from 17th on the grid at Interlagos.
Perhaps he just became tired of having to toe the line, or say what others wanted, in an increasingly shouty landscape.
Hill often prefers to come at things from a more intellectual, left-field place. In recent years, he has scribbled the odd column for Telegraph Sport, which our readers have much enjoyed. Wry, compassionate, they are written from a perspective only someone who grew up in the sport, who spent much of his childhood in the paddock, who then went and won the world title himself, is able to provide.
One hopes those observations are not lost to the punditry game for good. Someone needs to snap him up quickly.
