Phil Hill

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Phil Hill
Nationality	American
World Championship Career
Active years	1958 - 1964, 1966
Team(s)	Maserati, Ferrari, Cooper, Porsche, Automobili Turismo e Sport, Lotus, Eagle
Races	51
Championships	1
Wins	3
Podium finishes	16

Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	6
First race	1958 French Grand Prix
First win	1960 Italian Grand Prix
Last win	1961 Italian Grand Prix
Last race	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] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Team	WDC	Points
1958	Maserati	ARG	MON	DUT	500	BEL	FRA 7	GBR	GER 9	POR	ITA 3	MOR 3	Ferrari	10th	9
1959	Ferrari	MON 4	500	DUT 6	FRA 2	GBR	GER 3	POR Ret	ITA 2	USA Ret			Ferrari	4th	20
1960	Ferrari	ARG 8	MON 3	500	DUT Ret	BEL 4	FRA 12	GBR 7	POR Ret	ITA 1	USA 6		Cooper	5th	16
1961	Ferrari	MON 3	DUT 2	BEL 1	FRA 9	GBR 2	GER 3	ITA 1	USA				Ferrari	1st	34
1962	Ferrari	DUT 3	MON 2	BEL 3	FRA	GBR Ret	GER Ret	ITA 11	USA	RSA			Ferrari	6th	14
1963	ATS	MON	BEL Ret	DUT Ret	FRA NC	GBR	GER	ITA 11	USA Ret	MEX Ret	RSA		ATS	-	0
1964	Cooper	MON 9	DUT 8	BEL Ret	FRA 7	GBR 6	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA	USA Ret	MEX 9		Cooper	19th	1
1966	Eagle	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	DUT	GER	ITA DNQ	USA	MEX			Eagle	-	0

[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 :

24 Hours of Le Mans (3) : 1958, 1961, 1962
12 Hours of Sebring (3) : 1958, 1959, 1961
1000km Buenos Aires (2) : 1958, 1960
1000km Nürburgring (2) : 1962, 1966
F1 Italian Grand Prix (2) : 1960, 1961
F1 Belgian Grand Prix (1) : 1961

[edit] External links

Preceded by Jack Brabham	Formula One World Champion 1961	Succeeded by Graham Hill
Preceded by Ron Flockhart Ivor Bueb	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1958 with: Olivier Gendebien	Succeeded by Carroll Shelby Roy Salvadori
Preceded by Olivier Gendebien Paul Frère	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1961 with: Olivier Gendebien	Succeeded by Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill
Preceded by Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1962 with: Olivier Gendebien	Succeeded by Ludovico Scarfiotti Lorenzo Bandini