Second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix was Damon Hill’s best result of his sole season at Arrows in 1997.
But the driver who went into that season as the defending champion would be forgiven for not wanting to hold onto the trophy. He came within a lap of scoring a shock win for Arrows, which would have been the first for the team in its 20th season in Formula 1.Hill hit the front on lap 10, sensationally passing his former championship rival Michael Schumacher when he ran into trouble on his Goodyear tyres. The Bridgestone-shod Arrows stayed at the front until the final lap.
However a hydraulic problem developed on the Arrows A18 in the latter stages of the race. Jacques Villeneuve pounced on Hill on the final lap, denying him the win, though the Arrows driver beat Johnny Herbert to the chequered flag by 11 seconds to take second place.
The trophy Hill received on the podium at the Hungaroring appears to have been kept by his Arrows team, which collapsed five years later. Its assets were sold at an auction in 2003. The Sale Room, which is offering it at an opening price of £1,600, notes its current owner acquired it that year. Bids are open via the link below:
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paulsf1fix
21st December 2023, 13:29
If only they had changed that part, a mechanic knew it was faulty but the team boss Tom Walkinshaw wanted the car on the gird for the exposure of where Damon had qualified.
It was a gutting race at the time for any Damon Hill fans (me included)
I’m so glad Damon was able to win for Jordan though
Frank
21st December 2023, 13:37
But also a form of vindication after years of having to hear that he was a crap driver in a stellar car.
Dale
21st December 2023, 23:43
Instead confirming that he was an average driver in a stellar car.
Jonathan Parkin
21st December 2023, 13:54
Now that is a trophy. It looks so much better than the ones we have now
Alan Dove
21st December 2023, 14:44
One of the benefits of multi-manufacturer tyre development that race.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
21st December 2023, 22:46
@geemac I’ll go halves with you and we can have it melted down. That trophy represents such a painful, bittersweet race!
It still pains me to this day, it could have been the most amazing win. It would have joined the unlikely winners from the midfield list of Panis in Monaco ’96, Fisichella in Brazil ’03, Herbert at the Nurburgring in ’99, Maldonado in Barcelona ’12.
GeeMac (@geemac)
22nd December 2023, 10:40
You are on sir!!! @unicron2002
Jungle
22nd December 2023, 10:38
I actually think this was one of his best weekends.
Edvaldo
22nd December 2023, 18:57
Waiting Barrichello to put that Austria 2002 1st place trophy up for sale too.
José Lopes da Silva
23rd December 2023, 9:38
Every Jacques Villeneuve fan would want it that. Those 4 points proved essential for the title.
M. Andras
23rd December 2023, 19:50
That trophy has to be a replica, because there is a misspelling in the text. It says “NADYDIJ” instead of “NAGYDIJ”. I doubt it that the (probably) original hungarian creator spelled it wrong.