F1

DAMON HILL was the ultimate victim of Formula One’s original Dick Dastardly.Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of the controversial Australian Grand Prix clash with Michael Schumacher which cost Hill the championship by ONE point.Michael Schumacher, right, rammed into Damon Hill, left, and ultimately forced both of them to retireCredit: Sporting Pictures (UK) LtdSchumacher flipped and ended up in the wall, while Hill made it to the pits before abandoning the raceCredit: WilliamsF1The result meant Schumacher won the title by just one pointCredit: AlamyHill still laments Schumacher’s sportsmanship 30 years onCredit: GettyF 1 icon Schuey came off the track on lap 36, skimming a wall and damaging his Benetton, allowing Hill to catch him in the season’s title-decider in Adelaide.But the German got back into the race and rammed Hill’s Williams off the track in a spectacular collision.Schumacher harpooned a tyre wall and was out of the race — but, crucially, Hill’s car was also damaged.The Brit — son of motorsport legend Graham Hill — had to pull into the pits and a damaged front-suspension wishbone meant he also had to retire and ensured Schumacher held off his challenge to seal the first of his seven titles.READ MORE ON F1It capped an incredible season in which Hill received DEATH THREATS and had to be SMUGGLED into the German Grand Prix through a forest by POLICE.Hill, 64, recently compared current world champion Max Verstappen to Wacky Races’ cartoon villain Dick Dastardly after the Dutchman was hit with a combined 20-second penalty for two incidents involving Lando Norris in Mexico last month.Asked about his experience of Schumacher’s infamous shunt, Hill claimed: “It has become a blemish really on his incredible career.“What happened in Adelaide was a bit disappointing, the way it ended. Disappointed in him, let’s say. That’s the way he went about things.Most read in MotorsportCASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS“You look at someone like Roger Federer, who’s had an outstanding career, and there’s not a blemish on it.“A total sportsman the whole way through.Inside Michael Schumacher’s decade-long recovery from ‘desperately cruel’ ski crash as brother shares devastating update“Why would you not want that for your legacy?“And some people just can’t help themselves. They’re just very, very ruthless in competition. And that’s how Michael went about things.“It’s one I think he knew was perhaps regrettable.”Hill’s legendary Williams team-mate Ayrton Senna and Simtek rookie Roland Ratzenberger had both been killed at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola earlier that season and there had been a string of serious accidents.Schuey and his Benetton team emerged as the pacesetters in the face of allegations of cheating, a controversy Senna had stoked before his death.In the Brazilian’s absence, Hill stepped up and emerged as the main challenger to Schumacher.Tensions rose when Schumacher was disqualified from second place at July’s British GP for ignoring a black flag that obliged him to pit.And Hill received a death threat from a Schumacher fan ahead of the German Grand Prix three weeks later.Hill, now 64, recalled: “A guy had written to the police and said, ‘If Damon Hill qualifies ahead of Michael, I’m going to shoot him’. So we had all this security for the whole weekend.“I had to be secreted into Hockenheim in the back of a police car. They literally took me through the woods!”Schumacher’s campaign was disrupted by a ban from two further races and Hill went into the season finale one point behind his rival.Hill added: “There were questions raised about the way Benetton went racing during the ’94 season.“Ignoring the black flag at Silverstone and so on. We kind of knew they were a little bit on the edge with regard to how they raced. But I had no inkling that he would be prepared to cut me off like that. That was the next level, really.“With hindsight you can say this is what we would have expected him to do.Hill ended up winning the world title two years later in 1996Credit: Getty“But at the time we didn’t know that about him. We were still learning.”At the Monaco Grand Prix in 2010, Hill was acting as a steward when Schumacher was called up and penalised for an overtaking offence — and once again he received death threats from disgruntled German fans.Hill explained: “The only time I really spoke to Michael about Adelaide was at Monaco and we had to have him up in the office, because he had overtaken Fernando Alonso on the last lap after the safety car came in.“That’s the last time I spoke to him. I was having to ask him what he thought about what he did, whether it was within the rules. Which is quite ironic!“And I felt a bit awkward. I knew what would happen if I voted he had broken the rules, everyone would just say it was a vendetta, revenge and so on.“And sure enough, I got death threats because we took his place away!”’I was deeply upset’Schuey, 55, won seven Formula One crowns, a record he holds jointly with Lewis Hamilton.Sadly, Hill did not get the chance to make peace with his rival in retirement.In December 2013, Schumacher suffered a serious head injury while skiing with his son Mick — himself now a racing driver — and has been out of the public eye ever since.Hill, whose dad Graham died in a plane crash in 1975, added: “I was deeply upset, because to be with your son skiing, you’re out for a lovely day — it’s just horrible what happened. I know what it’s like to lose your dad.“Michael was astonishingly brilliant and changed the sport because he was unemotional.“He somehow managed to do things clinically and to break records with apparent disregard for a reason as to why they shouldn’t be broken.“Alain Prost retired at four. To think in terms of seven titles… to go to six, OK, you’ve done it. Why not seven?READ MORE SUN STORIES“I found it difficult to know why you’d want to keep bagging them. It seemed an awful lot to me!“But that’s the difference between someone like Michael and ordinary drivers like me. There’s no barrier to their limits.” More

SOME much-loved European Grands Prix face the prospect of hosting races on a rotational basis sooner rather than later.F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali teased that he “had some news to share” as a few European circuits prepare to learn their fate.Stefano Domenicali has confirmed that plans are in place to make a controversial change to the F1 race calendarA host of European tracks will lose their year-by-year right to hold racesA selection of Europe’s finest tracks might be forced to hold races on a bi-annual basis, starting in 2026.Domenicali has revealed that some events will have to forego their year-by-year pattern with another event.With a record-breaking 24 rounds already crammed onto the F1 calendar, the scope for adding new venues is now arguably smaller than ever.The former Lamborghini CEO said: “We have some news to share very, very soon with regard to the possibility in the mid-term to have some rotational European Grand Prix and some other new options coming later.READ MORE ON F1″This is something that, of course, we will clarify in the due course. It is true that we have a large demand of new possible venues that want to come in.”We believe that the balance we have in terms of numbers [of races] is the right one, so 24 is the balanced number that we feel is right.”I do believe that all the propositions that are coming on our table are giving us the possibility to make even better choices for our future.”Many of the European circuits are some of the most popular on the calendar, with the Belgian, Italian and British Grands Prix high on the list of the most exciting races each season.Most read in MotorsportFOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALSF1 now spans across four different continents, with the FIA keen to further grow the sport’s presence in the United States with three races – in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas – currently held there.There are also talks about a further race in South America and a return to South Africa for the first time since 1993.Formula 1 chaos as Brazilian GP qualifying POSTPONED due to heavy rain with drenched fans left waiting for hoursRwanda have also pleaded for the chance to host a Grand Prix.Representatives of the Rwanda Development Board travelled to Monaco earlier this year to meet with the FIA.In fact, seven-time world champ Lewis Hamilton stressed that F1 can not continue to “ignore Africa”.Monaco is also up for renewal after 2025 but a rotational option for the famed principality race is thought to be unlikely.Zandvoort in the Netherlands has long been linked with a rotational deal with Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.Zandvoort could also swap yearly with Barcelona – while Monza and Imola in Italy might share hosting duties for the Italian Grand Prix.Madrid joins the calendar in 2026 with a city street circuit, while races at Silverstone, Budapest and Austria have long-term deals into the 2030s.And fans are largely less than happy with the proposals.Taking to X one wrote: “It’s the start. Classic staple F1 tracks will be replaced by soulless street circuits that have the biggest wallets.”READ MORE SUN STORIESA second added: “Rotate the street tracks, these cars are not made for narrow street circuits!”A third said: “That actually makes a championship harder. There’s removed predictability of development.” More

FORMULA 1 drivers have hit back at punishments for swearing by calling on FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to treat them like adults.Defending world champion Max Verstappen, 27, was sanctioned by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, back in September after describing his car as “f***ed” during a media press conference in Singapore.Max Verstappen was sanctioned after swearing in a press conference in SeptemberCredit: GettyThen last month, Charles Leclerc received a €10,000 fine (£8,300) – €5,000 of which is suspended for 12 months – for swearing during a presser for the Mexican Grand Prix.In the wake of his punishment, Verstappen answered a host of questions with “no comment”.When discussing swearing as a rule breach, he then said: “What are we? Five-year-olds, six-year-olds?”Now the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, which includes all 20 drivers on the 2024 grid, have released a statement on the matter.READ MORE IN F1They have urged the sport’s bosses to appreciate a distinction between “swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as a Formula 1 car, or a driving situation”.The GPDA also warned Ben Sulayem about his “tone and language” towards the drivers, insisting their “members are adults” and they “do not need to be given instructions via the media”.The statement went on to raise concerns over the “negative image financial fines bring to the sport”.Three-time world champion Verstappen sensationally revealed the swearing storm could impact his future in the sport if changes are not made.Most read in MotorsportCASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERSGrand Prix Drivers’ Association full statementAs is the case with every sport, competitors must abide by the referee’s decision, whether they like it or not, indeed whether they agree with it or not. That is how sport works. The Drivers (our members) are no different, and fully understand that.Our members are professional drivers, racing in Formula 1, the pinnacle of international motorsport. They are the gladiators and every racing weekend they put on a great show for the fans.With regards to swearing, there is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as a Formula 1 car, or a driving situation.We urge the FIA President to also consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise. Further, our members are adults, they do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery and underpants.The GPDA has, on countless occasions, expressed its view that Driver monetary fines are not appropriate for our Sport. For the past 3 years, we have called upon the FIA President to share the details and strategy regarding how the FIA’s financial fines are allocated and where the funds are spent. We have also relayed our concerns about the negative image financial fines bring to the Sport. We once again request that the FIA President provides financial transparency and direct, open dialogue with us. All stakeholders (FIA, F1, the Teams and the GPDA) should jointly determine how and where the money is spent for the benefit of our Sport.The GPDA wishes to collaborate in a constructive way with all the stakeholders, including the FIA President, in order to promote our great Sport for the benefit of everyone who works in it, pays for it, watches it, and indeed loves it. We are playing our part.He said: “These kind of things definitely decide my future, if you can’t be yourself or you have to deal with these silly things.”I’m now at the stage of my career that you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring. Lewis Hamilton celebrates ‘biggest honour of my F1 career’ in front of delighted crowd despite disastrous Brazilian GP”Of course it’s great to have success and win races, but once you’ve accomplished all of that, then you want to just have a good time as well.”If you have to deal with all these kinds of silly things, for me that is not a way of continuing in this sport, that’s for sure.”Last weekend, Verstappen came from 17th on the grid to win the Brazilian Grand Prix.The result sees the Red Bull star take a huge step towards a fourth successive drivers’ championship.He leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 62 points with just three races remaining. More