Damon Hill on instilling a winning mentality at Jordan: 'Being the innovator is scary'

Damon Hill leveraged the championship-winning mindset he learned at Williams to help transform the Jordan team's approach, convincing them that copying the leaders would only keep them in second place. His push for independent innovation contributed to the team's most successful era, including a landmark victory and a best-ever third-place finish in the Constructors' Championship.

Why it matters:

Hill's experience highlights a critical lesson for midfield teams aiming to break into F1's elite: sustainable success requires forging your own path, not just emulating the front-runners. It underscores the often-underestimated role a driver can play in shifting a team's culture and strategic thinking beyond simply driving the car.

The details:

• After winning the 1996 title with Williams, Hill was not retained and moved to Arrows and then Jordan, where he encountered teams accustomed to a 'copycat' philosophy.
• He identified a fundamental flaw in this approach: "If you copy the people winning, you’re always going to come second to them, because they’re already one step ahead."
• Hill had to actively work to change Jordan's mentality, urging them to find their own way forward instead of following others.
• He described the fear of innovation, comparing leading a race for the first time to leading development: "It’s a bit scary. Suddenly you’re out there and they’re going to go, 'Where have they all gone?'"
• Johnny Herbert supported this view, recalling his own experience at Sauber where a driver's instinct to start on soft tires in Barcelona proved a winning risk, emphasizing that "a driver’s input... we have more power than we think."
• Hill noted the "cache" of being a world champion gave him gravitas within a new team, but cautioned it could be misplaced, as his real value was in conveying the winning mindset and leadership he witnessed from figures like Patrick Head and Adrian Newey at Williams.

The bottom line:

Hill's journey from Williams to Jordan is a case study in translating a top-team's culture of confident innovation to a squad with potential. His success there, culminating in the 1998 Belgian GP win and the 1999 P3 finish, proved that a driver's influence can extend far beyond the cockpit, serving as a catalyst for a team to believe in and execute its own original ideas.