Phil Hill

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Phil Hill
Formula One Career
Nationality	American
Active years	1958 - 1964, 1966
Team(s)	Maserati, Ferrari, Cooper, Porsche, Automobili Turismo e Sport, Lotus, Eagle
Grands Prix	51
Championships	1
Wins	3
Podium finishes	16
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	6
First Grand Prix	1958 French Grand Prix
First win	1960 Italian Grand Prix
Last win	1961 Italian Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1966 Italian Grand Prix

Phil Hill 1962 at the Nürburgring

For other persons named Phil Hill, see Phil Hill (disambiguation).

Philip Toll Hill Jr., (born April 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida) is the only American-born driver to win the Formula One driving championship.

Raised in Santa Monica, California, where he still lives, Phil Hill began racing cars at an early age, going to England as a Jaguar trainee in 1949 and signing with Enzo Ferrari’s team in 1956. He made his debut in the French Grand Prix at Reims France in 1958 driving a Maserati. That same year, he won the 24 hours of Le Mans with Belgian team mate Olivier Gendebien, driving for most of the night in horrific rainy conditions. He and Gendebien would go on to win the famous endurance race two more times.

In 1961, Phil Hill won the 24 hours of Le Mans again and the Formula One driving championship for the Ferrari team, although somewhat due to the death of his teammate and main championship contender Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips. Unlike Mario Andretti, Hill is born in the USA, and still the only US-born F1 champion. The 1961 season was also notable for Phil Hill as he became the first man ever, during practice for the German Grand Prix to lap the Nordschleife at the Nürburgring under nine minutes.

After leaving Ferrari at the end of 1962 in the the great walkout of engineers, he and fellow driver Giancarlo Baghetti started for their new team ATS. Hill continued in Formula One for a few more years until he switched to sports car racing with Ford Motor Company and the Chaparral Cars of Jim Hall.

Phil Hill has the distinction of having won the first (a 3 lap event at Carrell Speedway in a MG TC on July 24 1949) and last races of his driving career, the final victory driving for Chaparral in the "BOAC 500" at Brands Hatch in England in 1967.

He has had a long and distinguished association with Road & Track magazine. He has written several articles for them, including road tests and retrospective articles on historic cars and races. He shares his "grand old man" status at R&T with '60s racing rival Paul Frère.

His son Derek raced in Formula 3000 in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

[edit] Awards

In 1991, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the sole sports cars driver in the inaugural 1989 class.

Primary career victories :