Wheel to wheel: How Villeneuve drove Hill to distraction
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Damon Hill
Finished
1st
Looked quicker of two when chasing Villeneuve, and pressured him into mistake. Aware of need to avoid taking both off with any rash passing moves.
Jacques Villeneuve
Finished
2nd
Brilliant in qualifying, taking pole for first GP. Would have won but forced error damaged oil line.
Brazil
1st
Unstoppable in qualifying. Unstoppable in race, where he also set fastest lap.
Spun
Ran well in qualifying. Looked very impressive in first wet F1 race (only third-ever outing in rain) until he spun.
Argentina
1st
Brilliant again in qualifying.
Another easy race win.
2nd
Spoiled chances with poor start, but fought back to second. Lucky that Berger retired.
Europe
4th
Ruined third consecutive pole position with poor start. Fought back but looked shaky en route to fourth place.
1st
Grabbed lead early and then fended off
attentions of Schumacher all afternoon.
Excellent first win came at only fourth attempt.
San Marino
1st
Back on top in qualifying and race.
Smart enough to play tactics when it mattered in early stages.
11th
Qualified well, but aggression got him into trouble sitting it out with Alesi. Lost loads of time with resultant puncture.
Monaco
DNF
Outshone by Schumacher in qualifying but grabbed lead at start. Walking to well deserved victory when engine broke.
DNF
Looked lacklustre all weekend. Should never have been behind Irvine, Frentzen etc in the first place.
Spain
Spun
Back on top in qualifying, but race a disaster. Ride height too low, so car aquaplaned; he spun twice before crashing.
3rd
Backed Hill strongly in qualifying. Then redeemed poor Monaco showing with excellent run to third, bearing in mind lack of wet-weather experience.
Canada
1st
Stamped authority in qualifying and again at first corner, where he refused to let Villeneuve push him around. Won for fifth time, in style.
2nd
Desperately wanted to win at home, on circuit named after father. Beaten fair and square by Hill.
France
1st
Beaten by Schumacher in qualifying, but again dominant in race after Ferrari blew up on
parade lap. Sixth victory of the season.
2nd
Turning point for his season was, ironically, big crash in practice. Shrugged off sore neck to take strong second place.
Britain
DNF
Turning point of his season, after abysmal start left him fourth from pole position. Spun off after front wheel-nut loosened.
1st
Made inroads into Hill's lead at last with dominant second victory. Got own back for Canada in front of Hill's countrymen.
Germany
1st
Compromised race with another poor start from pole position. Fought back, and had lucky win when Berger's engine blew. Seventh victory.
3rd
Back to running behind Hill. Qualified only sixth and finished distant third behind Hill and Alesi.
Hungary
2nd
Yet another appalling start lost second on grid. Recovered from fourth to chase Villeneuve to flag.
1st
Qualified behind Hill but started better. Took lead from Schumacher in the pits and kept it under pressure from Hill.
Belgium
5th
Problems started when forgot to tell Renault about engine problem from morning warm-up, following spin. Very lacklustre race in spare car.
2nd
Benefited at Hill's expense over pit stop mix-up. Then went on to fight it out with Schumacher until handing went awry.
Italy
Spun
Stunned by sacking from Williams, but fought back to take pole. Brilliantly aggressive in opening laps, but threw lead and title away with stupid mistake.
7th
Struggled right from start of race. Hill's only consolation was that Villeneuve also screwed up by hitting a tyre stack.
Portugal
2nd
Brilliant at start, keeping Alesi at bay. Seemed to be running away until combination of traffic, loss of consistency and Villeneuve spoiled his day.
1st
His turn for bad start, but then brilliantly passed Schumacher. Quickly gobbled up Hill's advantage and charged on to thoroughly deserved win.
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