Phil Hill – American and not related to the Graham/Damon family – won his only title in terrible, tragic circumstances.

After winning the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours with Olivier Gendebien, Hill entered Formula One in 1958 with Maserati, before immediately switching to another Italian marque, Ferrari, with whom he would win the championship in 1961. He did the seven of nine rounds that Ferrari entered in 1959 and scored three podiums.

Wolfgang von Trips joined him at the final round, Hill’s home race, and the two would battle each other for the championship in 1961. They each won twice, and going into the final round ‘Taffy’ led Hill 33 points to 29. But at Monza von Trips and Jim Clark collided, and the German driver was killed along with thirteen spectators. Hill collected the win and the championship in sombre mood.

After another season with Ferrari Hill flitted around various teams: he made a one-off appearance for Porsche at Watkins Glen in 1962 but didn’t start. In 1963 five starts for ATS were punctuated with one for Lotus, but none resulted in any success. His final full season came in 1964 with Cooper, yielding just one point. Suffering ill health, he made two ill-starred appearances in 1966 before retiring.