Book Review: My Championship Year by Damon Hill

Despite winning the 1996 F1 world championship in the dominant Newey designed Williams FW18, Damon Hill is often under-rated as one of the better British drivers. Anyone who could drag the ’97 Arrows Yamaha almost to victory in the Hungarian GP deserves some serious recognition. To celebrate his title win, Damon released an interesting photo diary book (a popular trend in the mid’90s)  at the end of ’96 titled “My Championship Year” (sound familar?).

One thing that strikes me about this book in 2013 is the great balanced layout and how driver diary books have changed since the ’90s. These days most driver books are in the smaller format or paperback. My Championship Year is like the hardcover coffee table books of old.

Damon’s narrative uses a very honest and conversational tone that charts his ups and downs during 1996. I imagine he’s probably like that in real person. He also gives some brief insights into his personal and family life away from the track.  The book’s introduction provides the reader with a quick background of Damon’s previous ’94 and ’95 seasons leading up to 1996 with his famous on-track tussles with Michael Schumacher and the now high expectations for Williams for the new 1996 season.

As everyone knows, ’96 was new recruit Jacques Villeneuve’s debut F1 season as Damon’s teammate and the book makes interesting reading on the driver psychology and banter within the team. That season is also remembered for Hill joining the Frank Williams’ famous driver redundancy program mid-season. Reading Damon’s side of the story as a driver is interesting (almost the same experience as Nigel Mansell…)

Aside from the direct personal insights from Damon, the other big plus with this book is the photography of Jon Nicholson. There is a good mix of b&w shots (used mainly for behind the scenes images) and color photos (car & track action). The book is also has plenty of color full double page and one+ 2/3 page spread photos.

Surprisingly the book doesn’t include any race results or statistics for the ’96 season which is a little unusual for a race diary.

All in all, this is a very personal look at the ’96 championship by the driver who won it.

Wow Factor or Money Shot: Jon Nicholson’s Monza photos.

Suitable for: Damon and Williams history fans.