Damon Hill's 1996 title remembered: Part 2 – Triumph after a year of tumult

In part one of our look back at Damon Hill’s run to the 1996 championship 30 years ago, we combed through the roots of that title, coming as it did after the emotionally fraught 1994 season, and Hill’s personal 1995 nadir. For part two, it’s time to get into the 1996 season itself, a year that – in its own way – would be as tumultuous as the two seasons that had gone before it.

There are some who argue that Hill was placed in an enviable position at the start of 1996 – and it must be said that, in terms of being set up for championship success, conditions were indeed ripe for the Englishman.

As we saw in part one, Hill had begun his Williams career being paired with first Alain Prost in 1993 and then Ayrton Senna in 1994 – two icons of F1. Rookie David Coulthard was an easier proposition on paper in 1995, but had at least been part of the Williams set-up for a few years and thus knew the ropes.