Hill drives father’s Monaco-winning Lotus in demo
ByAutoSport
Published 12/04/2019 at 11:02 GMT
Damon Hill drove the Lotus 49B with which his father Graham won the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix as part of Formula 1's 1000th Grand Prix celebrations in Shanghai.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The Lotus 49B Chassis R10 which Hill demoed at the Chinese Grand Prix was also raced by Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi, and had its last outing in the Brazilian's hands in Austria in 1970.
The Lotus was the only classic F1 car to take to the track on Friday as part of the celebrations for F1's milestone event.
"It was great fun," Hill told Autosport.
"I've driven 49s before, but I've never pushed them, although you've got a bit of space here.
"It's very odd getting in - the way you get into them is very unique, because the steering wheels don't come off.
"I can remember watching my dad getting in, and I'm putting my hands behind me and sliding in just like he did.
"So I have a little bit of a giggle to myself about that. However, he would have been 40 when he was driving it, and I'm a bit older than that now!"
Hill has frequently driven his father's cars and admitted that driving them now is not as meaningful as it once was.
But he says he got a bigger buzz the first time he was reunited with his own Williams FW18 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2014.
"I think I've got over it now. Although I did get emotional driving my 1996 car at Goodwood, because I hadn't driven that car since I got out of it," said Hill.
"All I can say is that the environment is so familiar, having had such extreme experiences in it, that there's some sort of memory thing kicks in.
"You remember who you were as a racing driver at your peak, and that's a very strange feeling."
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