Damon Hill

The device and colours represent the London Rowing Club for which Graham Hill rowed in the early 1950s.

Although he won a 350 cc clubman's championship at the Brands Hatch circuit, his racing budget came from working as a building labourer.

He also worked as a dispatch rider for Apollo Despatch in London, then later Special Delivery, a London motorcycle dispatch company and was provided TZ350 racing bikes by them.

Damon Graham Devereux Hill, (born 17 September 1960) is a British former professional racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion.

He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg, one of two sons of a Formula One World Champion to also win the title.

He won the world Drivers' Championship in 1962 and 1968, and became a well-known personality in the United Kingdom.

Graham Hill's career provided a comfortable living.

Bette (née Shubrook) was a former rower and medalist at the European Rowing Championships.

By 1975 the family lived in a "25-room country mansion" in Hertfordshire and Damon attended the independent The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School.

The death of his father in an aeroplane crash in 1975 left the 15-year-old Hill, his mother, and sisters Samantha and Brigitte in drastically reduced circumstances.

Hill worked as a labourer and a motorcycle courier to support his further education.

Hill is married to Susan "Georgie" George and they have four children, including Joshua.

One son was born with Down syndrome and Hill and Georgie are both patrons of the Down's Syndrome Association.

He started racing on motorbikes in 1981, and after minor success moved on to single-seater racing cars.

Hill started his motorsport career in motorcycle racing in 1981.

He used the same simple, easily identifiable helmet design as his father: eight white oar blades arranged vertically around the upper surface of a dark blue helmet.

His mother, who was concerned about the dangers of racing motorcycles, persuaded him to take a racing car course at the Winfield Racing School in France in 1983.

Although he showed "above-average aptitude", Hill had only sporadic single-seater races until the end of 1984.

He graduated through British Formula Ford, winning six races driving a Van Diemen for Manadient Racing in 1985, his first full season in cars, and finishing third and fifth in the two UK national championships.

He also took third place in the final of the 1985 Formula Ford Festival, helping the UK to win the team prize.

For 1986, Hill planned to move up to the British Formula Three Championship with title-winning team West Surrey Racing.

The loss of sponsorship from Ricoh, and then the death of his proposed teammate Bertrand Fabi in a testing accident, ended Hill's proposed drive.

Hill says "When Bert was killed, I took the conscious decision that I wasn't going to stop doing that sort of thing. It's not just competing, it's doing something more exciting. I'm at my fullest skiing, racing or whatever. And I'm more frightened of letting it all slip and reaching 60 and finding I've done nothing."

During the mid-1990s, Hill was Michael Schumacher's main rival for the Formula One Drivers' Championship, which saw the two clash several times on and off the track.

Hill became a test driver for the Formula One title-winning Williams team in 1992.

He was promoted to the Williams race team the following year after Riccardo Patrese's departure and took the first of his 22 victories at the 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Their collision at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix gave Schumacher his first title by a single point.

Hill became champion in with eight wins, but was dropped by Williams for the following season.

He went on to drive for the less competitive Arrows and Jordan teams, and in gave Jordan their first win.

Hill retired from racing after being dropped by Jordan following the season.

In 2006, he became president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, succeeding Sir Jackie Stewart.

Joshua started racing in 2008, competing in the British Formula Renault Championship in 2011.

In 2009, Hill also became the first patron of St. Joseph's Specialist School and College, a school for children with severe learning disabilities and autism in Cranleigh, Surrey.

Hill stepped down from the position in 2011 and was succeeded by Derek Warwick.

He presided over the securing of a 17-year contract for Silverstone to hold Formula One races, which enabled the circuit to see extensive renovation work.

Hill currently works as part of the Sky Sports F1 broadcasting support team providing expert analysis during free practice sessions.

Hill was born in Hampstead, London, to Graham and Bette Hill.

Graham Hill was a racing driver in the international Formula One series.

Joshua retired from motor racing in 2013.

Hill is the Patron of the charity Disability Africa which runs inclusion projects for disabled children in African countries.