Watching the Wheels

A Sunday Times #1 Bestseller, and shortlisted for the Cross Sports Book Award, Watching the Wheels is the full and frank autobiography of Formula One legend Damon Hill.In 1996, Damon Hill was crowned Formula One World Champion. Here, for the first time ever, he tells the story of his journey through the last golden era of the sport when he took on the greats including Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, and emerged victorious, stepping out of the shadow of his legendary father Graham Hill.Away from the grid, Watching the Wheels is an astonishingly candid account of what it was like to grow up as the son of one of the country's most famous racing drivers. It also tells the unflinching story of dealing with the grief and chaos that followed his father's tragic death in an aircraft accident when Damon was only fifteen years old.Formula One drivers have always been aware of their mortality, and the rush that comes with the danger of racing was as intoxicating for Hill as it had been for his father's generation, until he came face-to-face with catastrophe when his team-mate, Ayrton Senna, was killed in 1994. The swirling emotions that Hill was faced with in light of the death of Senna was a defining moment for his generation of drivers and for the first time ever Hill talks candidly about the impact that Senna had on his life, even as he watched his own son step into motor racing.Courageously honest, and hugely rewarding, Watching the Wheels is a return to the last golden era of F1 racing, whose image still burns ferociously for those who love the sport for what it reveals about human skill in the face of near certain death.