Sky Sports pundit quits Formula 1 coverage after 13 years: "All good things come to an end"
A Sky Sports veteran is calling time on his career with the broadcaster after 13 years on our television screens.
Since Sky purchased the rights to broadcast F1 in 2011, former world champion Damon Hill has been a mainstay on the channel. The British racer, 64, travels with the Sky Sports team to most races over the course of the season.
But now, he has announced that he will be leaving the broadcaster at the end of the 2024 season, which has just three races left. Hill, who saw most of his success at Williams, will appear for the final time at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 8.
Posting on X earlier today (November 15) he said: “Its been a fantastic 13 years with Sky Sports F1 but all good things come to an end.
“I will miss the most impressive bunch of professionals it has ever been my pleasure to have worked with. Looking forward to new challenges.”
Hill followed in the footsteps of his father Graham, who won two F1 championship’s in the 1960s, and even wore a replica design of his black and white helmet when he arrived on the grid in 1992.
Many F1 fans will remember his fierce rivalry with Michael Schumacher, with the pair going wheel-to-wheel in the mid-1990s for the world championship. In 1994, the pair collided in the final race of the season in Adelaide, handing the German the title.
The following season, the pair came to blows on several occasions, but mistakes from Hill handed Schumacher the championship at a canter. But when the German moved to Ferrari for 1996, Hill breezed through to win his one and only championship in a dominant Williams car.
Earlier that season, he was dropped by Williams for 1997, and ended up with backmarkers Arrows. 1997 was a dismal year, save for the Hungarian GP where he came agonisingly close to victory, only for his car to fail just a few miles from the finish line. A couple of seasons with Jordan followed before Hill retired in 1999 - and in his final race, he simply pulled up in the pit lane and retired, citing mental fatigue.
Speaking about his Schumacher rivalry to German publication Blid, he said: “Michael and I actually got on well, but on the track we hated each other. It was and is not possible to be any other way if you want to become Formula 1 world champion.
“There was no room for niceties. You have to exploit every weakness of your opponent and wear him down with it.
“Michael was a master of psychological games. He made me feel like I was useless and untalented. And he told the press that too. Because he won a lot of races back then, there was no reason not to believe him.”
Hill isn’t the first British pundit to leave Sky Sports F1 either, with fellow 90s star Johnny Herbert departing at the end of last season. He has since taken a stewarding role at the FIA, and has been responsible for handing out some of the penalties in Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ title fight.