Damon Hill reveals he ‘snitched’ on Michael Schumacher before Benetton once received £370,000 fine

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Damon Hill has revealed how he once ‘snitched’ on Michael Schumacher during an incident at the 1994 British Grand Prix that saw Benetton later receive a £370,000 fine.

The pair of F1 world champions regularly butted heads during the 1990s, with Schumacher often emerging on top as per his incredible record in the pinnacle of single-seater motorsports.

However, at the 1994 British Grand Prix, Schumacher may have played one mind game too far on his sparring partner at the time.

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As Hill goes on to detail, the F1 legend overtook the Briton on a couple of occasions during the various formation laps ahead of the racing action that weekend, which culminated in Schumacher receiving a five-second stop-go penalty.

However, Schumacher outright refused to serve the penalty and ended up being disqualified from the race for his actions.

However, the FIA later handed him and his Benetton F1 racing outfit an even more severe penalty: a £370,000 ($500,000) fine and a two-race ban for his ignorance, according to the Australian edition of Motorsport.com.

That may never have happened, though, if Hill hadn’t reported the incident in the first place…

• READ MORE: Damon Hill shares why Michael Schumacher was so ‘annoyed’ when he retired from Formula 1

Damon Hill admits he ‘snitched’ on Michael Schumacher at the 1994 British Grand Prix

During an appearance on the F1 Nation podcast in front of a live audience at last weekend’s British Grand Prix, Hill was asked for his thoughts on the current state of team radio during Grands Prix.

The way that the tool is used in the modern era of the sport has been criticised over the years, largely due to the instances where drivers are demanding that one of their rivals be penalised after a racing incident.

Before offering his thoughts on the topic, Hill admitted that kind of thing has been commonplace in the sport since his heyday in F1 during the 1990s.

“I must confess I did snitch on Michael Schumacher,” the 1996 world champion said. “That was in ’94, because what happened was we went onto the grid, and the way you do it is the guy on pole position, which was me, is supposed to lead the pack around.

“Every time, he kept overtaking me, and then we had a restart, and he did it again! So I thought there was something fishy going on, so I went on the radio. I went, ‘Guys, just in case you didn’t notice, he’s overtaken me again.’

• READ MORE: Michael Schumacher taught Damon Hill a vital lesson when he ‘tragically’ lost the 1994 F1 title

“Anyway, that went into a protest during the race, and that’s why he was given a [five]-second penalty, which he ignored. Then he got a black flag for ignoring the black flag, but the upshot was that I won.

“It’s the equivalent of falling down in the penalty box, isn’t it, really? I don’t feel good about it… No, I do, actually. It’s the one and only British Grand Prix I won, so it worked.”