Damon Hill’s life fell apart aged 15 when his beloved father, the two-time world champion F1 driver Graham Hill, died in a plane crash – then Damon stunned everyone

Damon Hill ‘didn’t want to be here’ after tragic plane crash killed dad(Image: jon nicholson)

Growing up, Damon Hill was in awe of his racing driver father Graham Hill – and terrified of losing him in a Grand Prix horror smash. So when double World Champion Graham told his wife Bette and three children Damon, Samantha and Brigitte he was quitting Formula 1 in 1975, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Damon, 64, who also went on to become an F1 World Champion in 1996, is now telling their story. He reveals that his reaction when his dad announced he was going to retire from full-time racing was, “Thank God for that.”

But that same year, the family’s worst nightmare came true. “Six months later I was watching TV with my younger sister Samantha,” recalls Damon. “We were expecting Dad home, my mum is in the kitchen and then, ‘We interrupt this moment to bring you a news flash…’”

Young Damon with his dad Graham and his mum Bette(Image: Mirrorpix)

Damon watched in horror as the reporter told how his dad’s plane, a light aircraft he was piloting in foggy weather, had crashed into trees on Arkley golf course in Hertfordshire. None of the six men on board survived. “I remember a kind of wave of heat coming up through my legs and into my face and I remember clocking what this meant, not being sure, but being terrified,” Damon recalls.

He broke the news to his mother. “I went up to her and said, ‘Mum, they think there’s a plane crash.’ She just got hysterical. She started screaming and getting very cross and saying, ‘I knew it was too good to be true.’” Until that moment the family had lived a life of luxury.

Damon celebrates with his wife Georgie Hill(Image: jon nicholson)

“Being a professional racing driver was lucrative in those days. You might call it danger money, but his family got a real taste of the high life,” says Damon. “We were very lucky children.”

After Graham’s death, the bad news just kept coming. The plane wasn’t correctly insured, the men who also died had families that needed looking after and Graham had borrowed money to fund his new F1 team, Embassy Hill. Before long the Hill family had lost their fortune and their house.

“From that point onwards it was just pandemonium,” says Damon, who also admits he was overcome with grief. “I can remember feeling I would like to have been with him on the plane. I didn’t want to be here,” he says.

Damon prepares to race in Formula 1 – just like his dad Graham(Image: Signature Entertainment)

Although Graham’s career often took him away from home, Damon idolised his father. “I wasn’t a car racing fan but I was definitely a fan of him,” Damon says. “It was almost like the house came alive when he came back.’”

It wasn’t until he reached his mid-twenties that Damon decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps and pour all his energy into becoming a racing driver. His wife Georgie Hill recalls the moment he told her of his plans. “He said, ‘I’m going to race in Formula One and I’m going to become a world champion,’” she says. “And I thought, ‘He probably will because he’s absolutely one of the most determined people I’ve ever met in my life.’”

Damon’s wife Susan ‘Georgie’ Hill believe him when he told her his plans to be World Champion(Image: Signature Entertainment)

It was when he was 28 that he stepped up his ambitions, as he and Georgie were expecting their first baby. Damon says, “I was prepared to drive anything to keep my head above water and pay the mortgage.” Soon he was the test driver for Nigel Mansell, another World Champion. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but it earned him the nickname The Vulture.

When Damon’s son, Ollie, was born, he and Georgie were told he had Down’s Syndrome. Doctors suggested they put him in a care home, which they refused to do. “Feeling this responsibility that I had to support Oliver and Georgie really focused my determination,” says Damon, who from that day forward chased down his dream to become World Champion – both for his father and for his son.