Ex-F1 champion bids farewell to British media role amidst Max Verstappen’s bias claims
1996 F1 champion Damon Hill announced his departure from Sky Sports amid claims of British media bias by Max Verstappen.
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Damon Hill, image via IMAGO
Recently, a feud between Max Verstappen and British media has developed within the paddock. With drivers reckoning nationality biases to have been creeping into English journalists’ reporting of incidents, 1996 F1 champion, Damon Hill announced his exit from Sky Sports F1 amidst such claims.
While Max Verstappen and British media have been going on in a back-and-forth battle of their own, this has tarnished English journalists’ ability to stay objective and report unbiasedly. Though most journalists and reporters have glanced over the issue, this has not been true with Damon Hill.
The ex-F1 champion has ended his ties with Sky Sports F1 in the midst of such speculations. Subsequently, the 64-year-old took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared a heartfelt message expressing his gratitude towards Sky Sports for their 13-year-long partnership.
Its been a fantastic 13 years with @SkySportsF1 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
Damon Hill wrote on X
Its been a fantastic 13 years with @SkySportsF1 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 #f1 pic.twitter.com/mdRxOJWVW2
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) November 15, 2024
Hill is now expected to take up the role of an analyst with another news outlet soon. Owing to his vast experience, his worthy insights are often looked up to by the F1 fanbase, making him a lucrative option for any sports news outlet.
Damon Hill reflects on the challenges he faced during his time in F1
Damon Hill was the driver to beat in his prime and raced alongside F1 legend Michael Schumacher. This gave him first-hand experience of the mind games that go on within the paddock.
The Englishman gave an insight into how the German driver was a fierce rival, both on and off the track. He explained how the seven-time champion was a master of psychological games.
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.
Damon Hill said (via GPBlog)
Despite this, Hill was able to fend off the monstrous Schumacher in 1996 to win the championship. However, things were made easy by the fact that Ferrari had not returned to his glory days just yet, which held back the German in his charge to the top of the standings.
This season, F1 could witness the crowning of Verstappen as a four-time world champion in Las Vegas. This would make only the fifth driver, after Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Juan Manuel Fangio, to win the title four times in succession.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)