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At Monza Hill found himself leading with Villeneuve suffering from suspension trouble. This was the perfect opportunity to wrap up the championship but Hill hit tyres placed by one of the chicanes which took him out of the race. Fortunately Villeneuve could not take advantage of Hill's mistake. As in 1994 the world championship was to be settled on the last race at Suzuka, Hill needing a point to be sure of the title. Villeneuve got pole position with Hill second, but it was Hill who made the better start to lead the race with Villeneuve dropping back to fifth. Hill stayed in control while Villeneuve desperately tried to make up ground. Unfortunately for Villeneuve his rear left wheel came loose which sent him crashing out of the race. This meant Hill was finally world championship, he went on to fittingly win the race at Suzuka too. Incredibly Frank Williams decided to part with Damon Hill who would have to defend his title with another team, this would turn out to be Arrows. Arrows promised much but struggled with a less than competitive engine. 1997 was a difficult year for Hill as he had to try to make the Arrows competitive. Incredibly in the Hungarian Grand Prix that year, a track where power is not so important, Hill qualified well and made a good start to the race. Hill passed his old adversary Schumacher in a quite incredible move to lead the race. Just when Hill was set for Arrows' first win, a valve blew making Hill slow down and was overtaken by Villeneuve chasing his world championship. Hill scraped home in second place. Hill left the Arrows team and joined the Jordan team for 1998. A poor start to th season was followed by a quite remarkable change in fortunes which culminated in Hill's victory in rainswept Spa in Belgium after an accident filled race which included a massive pile up at the start. Hill with Jordan went on to finish third in the constructors world championship. Currently Damon Hill is racing his last year in formula 1 with Jordan, announcing after the 1999 British Grand Prix his retirement at the end of the season.
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