Damon Hill sees himself in current F1 driver who’s never won a championship

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Damon Hill has explained why he sees himself in a current Formula 1 driver who has yet to win a world championship. 

During an F1 career that spanned seven years, Hill drove for the likes of Brabham, Williams, Arrows and Jordan. 

In total, the Brit enjoyed 22 wins, 42 podiums and 20 pole positions from 122 races.

The highlight of Hill’s career came in 1996, when he beat Williams teammate Jacques Villeneuve and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher to the world title.

Let’s hear your podium predictions for the British Grand Prix 🍾

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Damon Hill sees similarities between himself and George Russell

Replying to a fan’s question on Instagram recently, Hill was asked whether he sees similarities in his situation at Williams and the current state of play at Mercedes. 

So far in 2026, Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are fighting for the world title, which happened in 1996 when Hill went up against Villeneuve.

Hill has explained that he is in a similar boat to Russell, as he was the experienced driver in the team when a newcomer joined and threatened to be the number one driver, which is what Antonelli is doing at the moment.

After being asked, “Do you see any parallels between George/Kim and you/Jacques in 96?”, Hill said: “Yes, I do, and I’ve been feeling this for a while. 

“You have got the guy who has loads more experience and a guy who is new. But there is one difference: Jacques had a lot of experience in racing; he has won the Indy 500 and the Indy Championship. Kimi is still up-and-coming and only 19.

“I think Jacques was 25 when he joined, but otherwise I get your point; it’s the guy who has been at the Mercedes team for a while, and then an incomer comes in and upsets the apple cart.

“But George was that person, wasn’t he, when he went to Mercedes and replaced Lewis for a little bit?”

Your championship standings after the Austrian GP! What has this win done for George Russell’s title chances?

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READ MORE: George Russell’s Austria win busted Ferrari theory about Mercedes’ ‘big secret’

As things stand, Antonelli leads the world championship standings, having scored 171 points from the opening eight races.

Following Russell’s victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, the gap between the Brit and Antonelli has been reduced to just 40 points.

This weekend, the title fight will resume with the British Grand Prix, with Russell looking to secure his first podium finish at Silverstone, having previously recorded a best result of fifth place.

Speaking after the Austrian Grand Prix, Russell admitted that the last few months have been ‘tough’ as he had to watch Antonelli win five races on the bounce.

The 28-year-old also stated that he felt he was at a ‘low point’ when he was heading into the Barcelona Grand Prix.

As per Sky Sports F1, Russell said: “It’s been a tough couple of months with some really tricky races, with races that felt like everything was going against me, then some races with some tough performances.

“Obviously, I’ve got a really incredible team-mate next to me, who week in, week out is delivering some pretty spectacular performances.

“Going into Barcelona from quite a low point, I needed a lot of resilience to be able to get back and deliver some strong performances. So, to get the last two poles, to get the win here this weekend, especially on a track which I don’t think is so suited to me, I’m really, really proud.”