Hill: “I came very close to McLaren, but I politely rejected the offer”

Damon Hill in F1: from 1996 to 1999 In the second half of the ’90s, Williams obtained the last two Drivers’ and Constructors’ world titles in its history: even before the ‘double’ achieved with Jacques Villeneuve in 1997, the Grove company triumphed with another son of art in Damon Hill in 1996, who surprisingly decided to join Arrows the following year. After just one season, the Briton signed for Jordan, the team with which he achieved the last victory of his career in Belgium in 1998, retiring from the Circus at the end of the 1999 World Cup. Yet, precisely for what turned out to be the last two years of his career, an important opportunity arose for Hill. McLaren’s offer Shortly before 1998, in fact, McLaren had doubts about the renewal of David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen’s teammate at the time. Precisely for that reason, the Woking company presented an offer to Hill, who however refused, with Coulthard therefore remaining at McLaren until 2004. In the two-year period 1998-1999, Hakkinen became world champion, in addition to the Constructors’ title won in 1998. In an interview with the Stay On Track podcast, the 65-year-old explained the reasons that led him to say ‘no’ to McLaren, mainly linked to the team principal at the time: Ron Dennis. “If eccentricity means perfectionism to the point that it drives everyone crazy because you can never achieve perfection, then I think that’s probably one of Dennis’ strengths, in a way,” he said. “I remember Ron was on the cover of Time or something. It said, ‘Is this the most successful manager in the world?’ or something like that. Commercially, he was brilliant at closing deals, selling the team and turning McLaren into an unbeatable team. At one point it was virtually unassailable. But yes, he was very difficult to deal with in the sense that he never gave you the impression that he really wanted me there. The opportunity came up to go there, I came very close, but I concluded: if he doesn’t want me there, do I really want to be in a situation similar to the one I experienced with Williams, where I was trying to understand if they really considered me worth keeping? After leaving Williams I concluded that I didn’t want to put myself through that situation again. I’ll only go somewhere if someone wants me there, and with Ron I didn’t have that impression. So, I kindly declined the offer.”

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-04-30 23:00:00