Yee Haw, it the rhinestone, longhorn and barbecue Grand Prix!
Back to Texas for 9th running of the USA Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. We could discuss the season so far, and the battle between Hamilton and Verstappen but instead here's a brief history of the only F1 World Champion born in the United States, Phil Hill.
Hill was born in Miami, Florida in 1927 and grew up in California. In 1949, after a couple of years at University, Hill came to England and worked for Jaguar. He signed for Ferrari in 1955, to drive for their sportscar team. Enzo did not consider him temperamentally suited to single seat racing. He won Le Mans in 1958, 1961 and 1962, each time paired with Olivier Genbedein, which showed that old man Ferrari had a reasonable of what a driver was capable of.
In 1958, following the death of Luigi Musso and Peter Collins, Hill was promoted to the F1 team and helped Mike Hawthorn win the Championship. He won his first race for Ferrari at, of all places for a Ferrari driver, Monza in 1960. In 1961 the title race boiled down to a battle between Hill and Ferrari team mate Wolfgang von Trips. At Monza von Trips touched wheels with Jim Clark, his car cartwheeled in to the crowd killing the German and 14 spectators. Hill won the race and took the title by a single point from his dead team mate.
He was pall bearer at von Trips and described the experience as "profoundly mournful". Hill drove for Ferrari for the 1962 season but failed to win another race. From there his career went steadily downhill and in 1966, driving for Dan Gurney's All American Racers he failed to qualify yet again at Monza. He never drove an F1 car again.
Hill drove a few more sports car races but retired from motor racing entirely in 1967, settling down to domestic life back in California. He passed away in 2008 from complications related to Parkinson's disease.
The race on Sunday is over 49 laps of the 3.4 mile circuit. Valterri Bottas won the race the last time it took place in 2019, however Lewis has won 5 of the 8 race at CotA. Enjoy!
Back to Texas for 9th running of the USA Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. We could discuss the season so far, and the battle between Hamilton and Verstappen but instead here's a brief history of the only F1 World Champion born in the United States, Phil Hill.
Hill was born in Miami, Florida in 1927 and grew up in California. In 1949, after a couple of years at University, Hill came to England and worked for Jaguar. He signed for Ferrari in 1955, to drive for their sportscar team. Enzo did not consider him temperamentally suited to single seat racing. He won Le Mans in 1958, 1961 and 1962, each time paired with Olivier Genbedein, which showed that old man Ferrari had a reasonable of what a driver was capable of.
In 1958, following the death of Luigi Musso and Peter Collins, Hill was promoted to the F1 team and helped Mike Hawthorn win the Championship. He won his first race for Ferrari at, of all places for a Ferrari driver, Monza in 1960. In 1961 the title race boiled down to a battle between Hill and Ferrari team mate Wolfgang von Trips. At Monza von Trips touched wheels with Jim Clark, his car cartwheeled in to the crowd killing the German and 14 spectators. Hill won the race and took the title by a single point from his dead team mate.
He was pall bearer at von Trips and described the experience as "profoundly mournful". Hill drove for Ferrari for the 1962 season but failed to win another race. From there his career went steadily downhill and in 1966, driving for Dan Gurney's All American Racers he failed to qualify yet again at Monza. He never drove an F1 car again.
Hill drove a few more sports car races but retired from motor racing entirely in 1967, settling down to domestic life back in California. He passed away in 2008 from complications related to Parkinson's disease.
The race on Sunday is over 49 laps of the 3.4 mile circuit. Valterri Bottas won the race the last time it took place in 2019, however Lewis has won 5 of the 8 race at CotA. Enjoy!
