Damon Hill will remain on the airwaves. (Image: Getty Images)
Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has secured a new punditry position following his departure from Sky Sports at the end of last season. Hill, who clinched the Drivers’ Championship in 1996, was a key figure among Sky’s F1 pundits for over a decade. However, the 64-year-old felt he was being ‘pushed back’ during his final months with the broadcaster, and he has now joined Radio 5 Live’s punditry team ahead of the season, opening with the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Prior to his departure from Sky, Hill found himself embroiled in controversy after comparing current world champion to the fictional character Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races. The former Williams driver criticised Verstappen’s aggressive tactics in his duel with during October’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen, the star, took issue with Hill’s remarks and suggested that Sky, along with some other media outlets, were showing bias towards British drivers. Verstappen’s father, Jos, went a step further by criticising ‘biased people’ in the paddock.
In a recent interview with the , Hill was asked if he believes that upsetting Verstappen and contributed to his exit from Sky. “I would like to think not. I hope not. I think I felt like the end was coming anyway, because I was kind of pushed back all last year.
“I was doing the less attractive races. And they’ve got younger, fresher names. They’ve got Jenson [Button], they’ve got Nico [Rosberg]. And that’s fair enough – I completely get it. They’re closer to the front line than I am. And it’s TV. There’s got to be a bit of eye-candy factor to it.
” fight their corner very forcefully and they don’t like criticism of Max. And they didn’t like, particularly, some of the things that were said. On the whole they’ve always taken the view that Sky are British-centric and biased, which is really unfair I think. Actually I think there is a desire [the other way].
Damon Hill was subjected to criticism from the Max Verstappen team. (Image: Getty Images)
“I don’t think Sky want to be accused of being biased at all. I think they want to be a fair broadcaster of the sport – credit where credit’s due and all that. They also do not want to be denied access to a very important figure in this sport. And I think know that, and they apply pressure if they need to.
“But I’m not anti-Max. This is the point. I think Max is brilliant. I like him. What’s not to like? He’s sensational. But when I felt he overstepped the mark, I said so. And I think have a responsibility, their team management has a responsibility, to the sport.
“If their driver goes over the limit on occasion, they have a responsibility to say, ‘You can’t do that.’ And they don’t. That’s always been my issue with them. That they have almost given Max carte blanche and protected their driver from not sticking to the code, if you like.”
This article first appeared on .