By Roger Horton

Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion and winner of 22 Grand Prix races, will retire from Formula One at the end of the 1999 season.

His announcement, which was not entirely unexpected, comes just six races into his eighth season in Formula One and ends a career in which he experienced, perhaps more than most, the highs and lows that is the lot of the modern Grand Prix driver.

Damon Hill made his car racing debut in 1984, driving a Formula Ford after racing for some years on motorcycles, winning the Champion of Brands title riding a Yamaha TZ 350.

Then followed the usual climb up the rungs of Formula Ford, British Formula 3, and in 1989 into the Footwork F3000 team. His progress was steady rather than spectacular, and he often found that being the son of the double World Champion Graham Hill, did not automatically open the doors to the big budget drives that are so important for swift progress through these competitive feeder series.

His big break came in 1991 when he took over the role of Williams test driver from Mark Blundell. He did a solid job and was rewarded the following year with being made the official Williams reserve driver. When Nigel Mansell quit Formula One at the end of the 1992 season Hill was promoted to fill the vacant seat alongside Alain Prost.

He won three races in his debut year and finished in third position in the world championship. The tragic events of Imola in '94, where his then teammate Ayrton Senna was killed, thrust him into the leadership of the highest profile team in the pit-lane in the worst possible circumstances. When he arrived as team-leader for Monaco Grand Prix of 1994 he was starting in just his 22nd Formula One race.

He went on to win six races during that year, including the Japanese Grand Prix where he beat his great rival and ultimate nemesis Michael Schumacher in a straight fight in conditions so wet the race had to be temporarily stopped. Forced out of the title-deciding race that followed in Adelaide in controversial circumstances, he won many admirers with the grace with which he accepted his defeat.

The 1995 season promised much, but his failure to handle the pressure well in some critical race confrontations with the dominant Michael Schumacher sowed the seeds of his sacking from the Williams team the following year. Ironically, for much of his championship winning year of 1996 he had looked a different driver and there can be little doubt that he made the most of the equipment at his disposal.

For 1997 his option were limited, and the newly crowned World Champion was forced to defend his crown with the under-performing Arrows team. When the promised factory supplied engine deal failed to materialize Hill looked elsewhere, eventually excepting a drive with the team he had spurned the year before - Jordan.

After the early season form of the '98 Jordan car another dismal year looked in prospect, but changes to the technical staff improved the car dramatically and he scored an emotional first win for the team in the Belgian Grand Prix, another race win on a wet and treacherous track.

Damon Hill may not figure in many list of the all time greats, but he showed just what hard work and application can achieve, even in modern Formula One. To depart the scene with dignity is another victory won.