Villeneuve: “For me it was more difficult to fight with Hill than with Schumacher”

Two drivers, one team Today Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill play the role of Williams ambassadors, in the same team where thirty years ago the Canadian made his debut in Formula 1 with another son of art as his teammate. The second half of the 90s coincided with the end of the golden era of the Grove company, which after winning the world title with Hill in 1996 celebrated Villeneuve’s world championship the following year, still today the last celebrated by Williams in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships. A season as teammates Villeneuve himself went back in time remembering those two years, focusing in particular on the 1996 season, when he immediately fought for the world championship with Hill before the latter moved to Arrows for ’97. In the Williams Team Torque podcast, the Canadian praised the qualities of his former teammate, believing that the latter was the most difficult to defeat compared to any other driver: “I’ve always found it much more difficult to fight against my teammate because it’s the same car – he declared – you share the settings, you work as a team, but you still have to beat the other part of the team. And then it’s also hard for the mechanics and engineers, because they should work for the team, but obviously it becomes a bit of a personal matter. I’ve always found this is a little more difficult than fighting a driver from another team, like Michael. It all comes down to respect, whether it’s there or not – he added – if you respect your teammate, he’s an opponent to beat. You want to improve because he’s good, not because you think he’s not. I saw you arrive in Formula 1 because I was at the time in Japan and I was racing in the United States, and I saw the difficulties you faced.” Mutual respect Villeneuve and Hill share not only their experience in the same team, but also, unfortunately, a tragic childhood: while Hill lost his father Graham, two-time world champion, the same happened to Jacques with Gilles, idol of Ferrari fans. A similarity in their childhoods which, according to Hill, generated a mutual respect between the two drivers: “Jacques’ father was a driver. He died tragically when Jacques was very young. My father was also a driver and I lost mine. So, I always thought there was some sort of common experience. But we entered this sport with, I think, a strong sense of sportsmanship inherited from our fathers.”