Here are the Formula One World Champions from 1996 to 1997. I’m featuring just two drivers this time to make the text a bit easier to read.

1996 Formula One World Champion

Name: Damon Hill (Damon Graham Devereux Hill), OBE

Nationality: British

Team: Williams

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 22

Races: 122, with 115 starts

Podium Finishes: 42

Pole Positions: 20

Fastest Laps Set: 19

Brief Bio:

Born: September 17, 1960

Graham Hill

Damon Hill is the son of the two-time Formula One World Champion Graham Hill. Graham Hill was world champion in 1962 and 1968. In 1975, Damon Hill lost his dad in a horrific plane crash that claimed five other lives. When Graham Hill died, Damon’s family experienced some tough times, particularly after Graham Hill’s entire, uninsured estate was wiped out by the claims of the families of the other five victims.

Damon showed interest in the same line of sports his father loved—motor racing. But unlike other Formula One drivers, Damon had a pretty late start. He entered into motorcycle racing when he was already 23. After some success, he moved on to one-seaters and gradually rose up in ranks in the International Formula 3000 championships. Although Damon was pretty competitive in Formula 3000, he wasn’t able to win any championships.

In 1992, already in his early 30s, Damon became a test driver for the Williams team. Being driver number three when racing in F1 means having way-limited driving action, which is why it’s a good thing Hill found a racing seat in the middle of the 1992 season with the struggling Brabham team. Unfortunately for Damon, Brabham was a sinking ship that was in financial trouble due to lack of sponsorships. The ship sank sometime in 1992, and Damon spent the rest of the season testing for Williams again.

Nigel Mansell, William’s number one guy and the reigning world champion quickly exited Formula One in 1993 to join the North American Cart series, which meant one empty seat and one eager test driver to fill it. Hill ended up with the number “0” car, due to sport technicalities. Since the world champion gets #1 and his partner gets #2, without #1 but with #2, new driver is automatically given the “0” number. Pretty cool, huh?

During this time, his partner was no other than world champion Alain Prost! When Prost said “buh-bye” to Williams and F1 in general in 1994, Hill was joined by another world champion—Ayrton Senna. Ayrton, was William’s number one bet in 1994, but Schumi proved competitive and Senna died tragically before the season’s end. Because he was the most (and the only) experienced driver left in Williams, Hill suddenly found himself thrust into the position of team leader.

To accompany Damon, Williams promoted another test driver to take the #2 seat, David Coulthard—or DC as the media cool cats call him. Later on, Williams would bring back Mansell to share the seat with DC—the team must’ve really been gunning for another championship win during those seasons. Mansell earned 900,000 British Pounds for each of the four races he drove in, while team leader Damon Hill got paid 300,000 Pounds for the entire season. Talk about unfair!

Hill drove exceptionally well in 1994. He was second to Schumacher in points. And when Schumi got banned for two races (for overtaking Hill during a formation lap), and kept getting disqualified—Hill became the race leader. It came to the point where Schumi’s lead was reduced to just a point. Schumi also finished second after Hill during the rain-soaked race in Japan in 1994—after Schumi allegedly implied that Hill who was eight years his senior, wasn’t a world class driver. Now that’s what I call karma.

1994 title went to Schumi of course. So did the 1995. With rookie driver Jacques Villeneuve by his side, Hill dominated the entire season. Unfortunately for Hill, his bad performance the year before made Williams drop him after he won the title. No worries, Arrows picked him up. He also got his second BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, making him one of the only three athletes to have received this award, not once, but twice! That year, the Royal Automobile Club also gave him another prestigious trophy to add to his collection—the Segrave Trophy. So the year didn’t end *that* bad for Hill after all.

1997 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jacques Villeneuve (Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve), OQ – Order of Quebec

Nationality: Canadian

Team: Williams

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 11

Races: 165, with 164 starts

Podium Finishes: 23

Pole Positions: 13

Fastest Laps Set: 9

Brief Bio:

Born: April 9, 1971

Hometown: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Gilles Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve is a Canadian auto racing driver. He is the son of the late Formula One racer, Gilles Villeneuve. Jacques’ father was killed in 1982, while Gilles was on the final qualifying lap for the Belgian Grand Prix that season.

Aside from the 1997 Formula One World Driver’s Championship, Jacques has also won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1995 CART Championship. He is the third driver to have managed this feat—the other two being Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi.

The year Jacques became the F1 champion, Williams’ lead driver Damon Hill was dropped by the company, pushing Villeneuve to become the new team leader. To replace Hill, Williams hired Heinz-Harald Frentzen as driver number 2. While last year, Villeneuve was in a points-race for first place with his own teammate Damon Hill, this year, Villeneuve was in tough competition against another former F1 champion—Michael Schumacher.

His championship win was decided in the final race in Jerez when Schumi slammed against the side of Villeneuve’s car, damaging the Canadian’s sidepod. But while Schumi was forced to retire the race and was also disqualified for the championship, Villeneuve managed to recover and finish in third place—securing the championship title in the process.

After his win, Jacques’ career in F1 started to decline sharply. In 2006, following an alleged injury in the German Grand Prix on lap 31, Villeneuve was temporarily replaced by Robert Kubica. During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Kubica managed to finish in seventh place, but was later disqualified. The FIA discovered that the Sauber car was too light. A few days after this incident, Villeneuve and BMW Sauber announced that they were parting company, effective immediately.

Villeneuve went on to race in the 2007 Le Mans where his Peugeot team finished in second place. He also raced for NASCAR, SPEEDCAR, and V8 Supercars. He has also released a musical album that unfortunately was poorly received in 2007. And has had some TV adverts and a cameo in Driven, the 2001 Sylvester Stallone movie.

NOTE: Notice how both F1 Champions have F1 dads who both died tragic deaths?

Source: Wikipedia throughout.

This list tackles the top Formula One drivers from 1991 to 1995. If you’re a recent convert to F1 racing, then this post should give you some familiar names—including the Formula One Champ who holds the most records in the sport. Care to guess who I’m talking about? Clue: His initials: M. S.

Now if that clue’s not enough for you to correctly guess the name of the seven-time F1 champ, then you definitely have to read on to brush up on your F1 knowledge.

1991 Formula One World Champion:

Name: Ayrton Senna (Ayrton Senna da Silva)

Nationality: Brazilian

Team: McLaren

This is the third and final win for the late and great Ayrton Senna.

Senna’s Personal Life:

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Senna excelled in a lot of classes as a child. He was good at gymnastics, chemistry, and art. But he had weak points too, including: English, math, and physics. His family was pretty wealthy–his dad was a landowner. This allowed the young Senna to pursue his interests at a young age. The most prevalent of course, being motor racing.

According to people who knew him, Senna was actually very religious. Some reports even say that he would read the Bible while he was traveling from São Paulo to Europe, and back. He also had a tendency to incorporate his religious beliefs in racing, which didn’t sit too well with other racers.

He also looked to racing as a way to discover more about himself. One of his most famous quotes goes:

“The harder I push, the more I find within myself. I am always looking for the next step, a different world to go into, areas where I have not been before. It’s lonely driving a Grand Prix car, but very absorbing. I have experienced new sensations and I want more. That is my excitement, my motivation.”

There’s also a softer side to Senna that few people knew about until after his death. Widespread poverty in his home country greatly disturbed Senna. To help out his countrymen, he privately spent millions of his own money to help less-privileged children. Before his death, Senna actually made a framework of an organization that was dedicated to helping out children from Brazil. After his death, the institution was called “Instituto Ayrton Senna”.

Right before his death, Senna also became increasingly preoccupied with trying to make Formula One a safer sport for him and other drivers. As I mentioned in my previous post, Senna was actually the one who suggested the re-formation of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association or the GPDA. The GPDA was what you could consider the “union” for F1 drivers.

(Click HERE to read more about Senna)

1992 Formula One World Champion

Name: Nigel Mansell (Nigel Ernest James Mansell, OBE)

Nationality: British

Team: Williams

Career Highlight:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 31

Races: 191, with 187 starts

Podium Finishes: 59

Pole Positions: 32

Fastest Laps Set: 30

Brief Bio:

Born: August 8, 1953

Mansell was born in Upton-upon Severn, Worcestershire in 1953. Aside from being Formula One World Champion in 1992, Mansell also won the CART World Series in 1993. This makes him the only racer to have held both titles at the same time. He also remains the only driver to have won the CART series on his debut season.

The British media, fondly called Mansell, “Our Nige”.

He spent 15 years racing in Formula One, and he spent his last two F1 seasons also racing for the CART series. In terms of Race Wins, Mansell is the most accomplished British F1 driver. He places fourth in race wins behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna.

He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2008.

1993 Formula One World Champion

Name: Alain Prost (Alain Marie Pascal Prost, OBE, Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur)

Nationality: French

Team: Williams Renault

After taking a “sabbatical year” from Formula One in 1992, Prost made an amazing comeback in 1993. This would be his fourth and last title in the sport. This was his final year in F1.

His greatest rival and former teammate Ayrton Senna placed second behind Prost. Senna was racing for McLaren-Ford that year. And in spite of winning the Japanese and the Australian Grands Prix, Senna still lost the title to Prost after not being able to finish the race four times. Prost had 99 points that year, and Senna had 73.

According to an entry in Wikipedia, Prost returned to F1 but had a clause in a contract that forbade Senna from becoming his teammate–now that’s what I call intense rivalry.

Prior to the Portuguese Grand Prix in October of 1993, Prost announced that he would no longer be defending his world title. His contract with his team didn’t cover 1994. He opted to retire instead… and who could blame him? After all, during that time, he was the most successful F1 driver in the entire history of the sport!

On his last race in Adelaide that year, Senna was said to have been overcome with emotion. His greatest rival was leaving F1. While on the top podium, Senna embraced Prost–a touching move that certainly surprised everyone, including Prost. After retiring, Prost earned himself an OBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire)–a British order of chivalry.

Prost held on to the record of being the best F1 driver (statistically), until Schumacher broke his record of having 51 Grand Prix wins in 2001.

(Click HERE to read more about Prost)

1994 and 1995 Formula One World Champion

Name: Michael Schumacher, also called “Schumi”, “Schuey”, “Schu”, and “the Red Baron” by the press; He also occasionally got called “Regenmeister” (rain master) and “Regenkönig” (rain king) for his uncanny ability to race superbly in wet weather conditions.

Nationality: German

Team: Ford (1994) and Renault (1995)

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 7!!!! (yes, you read right, 7 wins!)

Race Wins: 91

Races: 250, with 248 starts

Podium Finishes: 154

Pole Positions: 68

Fastest Laps Set: 76

Brief Bio:

Born: January 3, 1969

Hometown: Hürth-Hermülheim, Germany

Schumacher (so far) is statistically the best racer in the whole of Formula One history. So far, Schumacher is the only German to have ever won the Formula one World Championship.

He holds the records for the most Championship wins, the most Grand Prix wins, the most number of fastest laps set, the highest number of races won in a single season, and the most number of pole positions. In 2006, Schumi was also voted as the most popular driver in F1. In 2002, Schumi became the only driver to have ever had an entire season filled with podium finishes.

From 2000 to 2004, he won five consecutive championships with Scuderia Ferrari.

Aside from being the most successful F1 driver in history, Schumi is also one of the most controversial racers in the sport. He has had many controversial driving moves that has even resulted in his disqualification in the 1997 Formula One World Championship. That year, Schumi collided with Jacques Villeneuve. He retired from Formula One officially in 2006.

When he’s not driving race cars or racing in motorbikes Schumi is also a UNESCO ambassador. He’s also a spokesperson for driver safety. Since the start of his career, he has been involved with various humanitarian efforts and has donated tens of millions to charitable causes.

Schumi is the brother of the ex-F1 racer, Ralf Schumacher. Ralf is currently with the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM). They are the only brothers to have ever won races in F1. They even had a 1-2 finish once.

2008 saw Schumi as a special test driver and an advisor for the F1 Ferrari team. July last year, he also launched a worldwide drinking and driving campaign named “Champions Drink Responsibly”.

1994 and 1995 Formula One Seasons

Schumi’s first championship win was one that was marred by two deaths: Ronald Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna–both of which happened in the San Marino Grand Prix. He also had a controversial start in the championship ring after his team, Benetton, was accused of having broken F1’s technical regulations.

The team, along with McLaren, was fined $100,000 (each) that year for having hidden functionality in their software. There was never any evidence of Benetton or McLaren having used this software during a race, but the FIA stood by the rules.

During the British Grand Prix, Schumi was also penalized after overtaking while on a formation lap. Instead of following the orders, Schumi ignored a black flag and the penalty. The black flag indicates that the racer should immediately make his way to the pits. After this stint, Schumi was disqualified. He was also given a two-race ban.

After winning the Belgian Grand Prix, Schumi was once again disqualified after it was discovered that his skidblock had illegal wear. Benetton tried to argue with the FIA saying that the damage on the skidblock was created when Schumi was cornering, but the FIA officials would hear nothing of their excuses.

And during the Australian Grand Prix, Schumi, who was close in points to Damon Hill, collided with Hill when Hill made a move to pass him. Schumi crashed out of the race, and Hill was forced to retire early. Schumi won the championship by a single point. Talk about a controversial win!

When 1995 came around, Schumi managed to win over Hill with 33 more points than the latter. That year, Schumi became the youngest driver to have ever won a back-to-back F1 championship.

Sources: A Lot of Wikipedia