Second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix was Damon Hill’s best result of his sole season at Arrows in 1997.
But the driver who went into that season as the defending champion would be forgiven for not wanting to hold onto the trophy. He came within a lap of scoring a shock win for Arrows, which would have been the first for the team in its 20th season in Formula 1.
Hill hit the front on lap 10, sensationally passing his former championship rival Michael Schumacher when he ran into trouble on his Goodyear tyres. The Bridgestone-shod Arrows stayed at the front until the final lap.
However a hydraulic problem developed on the Arrows A18 in the latter stages of the race. Jacques Villeneuve pounced on Hill on the final lap, denying him the win, though the Arrows driver beat Johnny Herbert to the chequered flag by 11 seconds to take second place.
While Hill went on to score his 22nd and final grand prix win the following year for Jordan, second place remained as good as it ever got for Arrows, and this was the last of their eight podium finishes. It was the second and final time Hill scored points for the team, which had snapped him up after Williams made the surprise announcement while he was fighting for the 1996 title that he would not drive for them the follwing year.
The trophy Hill received on the podium at the Hungaroring appears to have been kept by his Arrows team, which collapsed five years later. Its assets were sold at an auction in 2003. The Sale Room, which is offering it at an opening price of £1,600, notes its current owner acquired it that year. Bids are open via the link below:
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Formula 1
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