Damon Hill – 30 Years as a Formula 1 World Champion
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In 1996 Formula 1 rookie Jacques Villeneuve took the F1 world by storm, qualifying on pole position on his F1 debut in Australia and ultimately finishing 2nd in the World Championship to Williams teammate Damon Hill.
Jacques always liked to do things a little differently. Arriving at Spa he already had three victories to his credit during that debut season. Few expected him to do well on one of F1’s most demanding circuits; however, the feeling was that Spa’s 7kms circuit tended to favour those who knew its idiosyncrasies.
Come qualifying, however, Jacques put his Williams-Renault on pole position by a margin of over four tenths of a second. It was a stunning performance, one which left the world’s media open-mouthed and his rivals once again pondering the abilities of the talented French-Canadian.
When Jacques then revealed that his preparations for Spa had included practice on a computer game, it not only marked the first time a professional Formula 1 driver had admitted to being a gamer, it arguably began a new chapter in motorsport’s history.
Grand Prix 2 had only been released in July of that year, a racing simulator game produced by MicroProse, an officially licensed F1 product which featured the teams, drivers and circuits from the 1994 season. It would become one of the iconic simulator games of that era, enabling users to enjoy single-player or multiplayer modes and offering no fewer than seven driver aids which could be enabled to assist in gameplay.
“I think I only did 10 laps of Spa on Grand Prix 2,’ recalls Jacques, “but it was enough to help me learn which way the track went. That was enough, and I knew the car well by then.”
Reminded that he put his Williams on pole position by four tenths of a second, the 1997 World Champion expressed surprise that it was not by more.
‘Confidence’, the hallmark of all the sport’s greats, and a quality you need in order to attack Spa-Francorchamps in a Formula 1 car.
