Hill: Turning down Stewart in 1997 "broke my heart"
Damon Hill says that it “broke my heart” to turn down racing for Jackie Stewart’s new Formula 1 team for the 1997 season, but felt the move was too risky.

Towards the end of his championship-winning 1996 campaign, Hill was informed by Williams that he would not be retained for the following season, with the team opting to sign Heinz-Harald Frentzen as Jacques Villeneuve’s new teammate.
The decision came as a surprise to Hill, and left the British driver with limited options for 1997. He eventually signed for Arrows, who had scored just a single point in 1996 under its final year as Footwork.
But Hill was subject to interest from three-time world champion Stewart, who along with his son, Paul, had set up a new squad called Stewart Grand Prix that would serve as Ford’s factory F1 team from 1997.
Stewart noted in his autobiography that Hill was at the top of his shortlist, detailing that he wanted a driver who was “desirable, available and affordable”, only for a deal with Hill to never come off.
Speaking at The Mindset of Champions event hosted by Ignition Human Performance in partnership with Motorsport Tickets to support the Race Against Dementia and Halow Project charities, Hill explained how he agonised over the decision to turn Stewart down.
“He made me a very good offer,” Hill reflected, having known Stewart - a fond friend of his father - since he was a child. “I’ve got to say, it broke my heart to turn Jackie down, because I knew it would have been like a dream thing.
“I just thought career-wise, it would have been a big risk. They’d never run a Formula 1 team before. I think Jackie would let me off that one.
“To jump out of a winning team into a team that has never raced before was a little bit too much of a leap of faith for me - not that I ever doubted that Jackie and Paul would pull it off.”
Read Also:
Stewart explained how he and Paul had travelled to Ireland to especially meet Hill and try to sign him for 1997.
“The son of a bitch said no!” Stewart joked. “We wanted him desperately. We went over to Ireland, he was staying in Ireland at the time, and we flew to see ‘the’ Damon Hill.
“Of course he wasn’t there at the time, should have been, but when they finally arrived, he wouldn’t drive the bloody car. So he went for somebody else. I’ve forgiven him!”
Stewart would go on to record a second-place finish in Monaco with Rubens Barrichello at only its fifth race, but finished the year three points behind Arrows in the constructors’ championship.
Although Hill endured a difficult year with Arrows before leaving for Jordan, he recalled a memory from the Canadian Grand Prix when a fan he met in a lift helped change his attitude.
“I was driving for Arrows, she said ‘are you a driver?’, and I said yes, and she said, ‘oh, are you going to win the race?’” Hill recalled.
“We’re in the lift going down in the hotel, and she’s a fan and doesn’t know anything about motor racing, and she doesn’t know who I am. She was going, ‘are you going to win the race?’ And I was thinking, you obviously don’t know much, I’m in an Arrows, what a ridiculous question.
“She said, ‘yeah, but you’re in the race, right? Well you’ve got a chance, haven’t you?’ I thought, I like that attitude. That’s great. But realistically, I haven’t got a chance.
“Anyway, a few races later, I was leading the Hungarian Grand Prix in an Arrows! So she was right and I was wrong.”
Related video

Previous article
Domenicali hopes "incredible" Hamilton stays in F1
Next article
Why investigation of Grosjean’s horror crash won’t be a simple matter

About this article
Series | Formula 1 |
Drivers | Damon Hill |
Teams | Stewart Grand Prix |
Author | Luke Smith |
Hill: Turning down Stewart in 1997 "broke my heart"
Trending
Scuderia Ferrari Filming Day Backstage Footage
Back to Work | Valtteri Bottas' 2021 Seat Fit
F1 Explained | Mercedes Power Unit
How McLaren F1’s new investors have already made an impact
The deal McLaren concluded with MSP Sports Capital last year which will help the cash-strapped Formula 1 team pay for much-needed infrastructure upgrades, also points toward the future for F1 itself, says GP Racing's Stuart Codling.
Why Verstappen isn't interested in the hype game
In a pre-season where Red Bull has been unusually quiet, Max Verstappen has also been guarded about the team's fortunes in 2021. Even after trying the RB16B for the first time at Silverstone, the Dutchman was careful to manage expectations
The pros and cons of F1's 2021 rule changes
In the strategy for grand prix racing's future, 2021 represents a significant step towards the goal of closer racing and a more level playing field. That's the theory behind the latest raft of changes, but will they have the desired effect?
What Red Bull is trying to hide with its RB16B launch
Red Bull made no secret of the fact its 2021 F1 car is an evolution of its predecessor, but in keeping the same foundations while hiding some tightly-guarded updates with its RB16B, the team aims to avoid suffering the same pitfalls of previous years
How Albon plans to fight his way out of Red Bull limbo
Alex Albon has faced the media for the first time since he lost his Red Bull drive at the end of 2020 and dropped out of a Formula 1 race seat altogether. He has a history of bouncing back from setbacks, so here's what he must do to rise again
Ranked! Carlin's greatest F1 graduates
Carlin has helped guide enough drivers to Formula 1 to fill out an entire grid, plus a handful of reserves, to create a remarkable alumni list. With Yuki Tsunoda set to join that group, Motorsport.com has ranked its graduates to grace the grand prix scene...
Why Alfa's 2021 launch says more about its 2022 plans
Alfa Romeo launched its C41 with a revised front nose, but there's little to suggest it will surge up the leaderboard in 2021. As the team frankly admits, it's putting its eggs in the basket labelled 2022 and hoping to hold the eighth place it earned last year
Why Gasly’s AlphaTauri haven is a blessing and a curse
Red Bull opted not to re-sign Pierre Gasly even before it decided to drop Alex Albon and so the Frenchman's Formula 1 journey will continue at AlphaTauri. This has positive and negative connotations for one of last season's star performers.