Damon Hill lands new F1 job after speaking out angrily on Sky Sports axe

Damon Hill spoke out following his departure from Sky Sports but the 1996 Formula 1 champion has quickly found a new role ahead of the 2025 season starting with the Australian Grand Prix this Sunday

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has landed a new punditry role after leaving Sky Sports at the end of last season.

Hill, who won the Drivers’ Championship in 1996, was one of Sky’s most prominent F1 pundits for more than a decade. But the 64-year-old felt that he was ‘pushed back’ during his final months with the broadcaster and has now joined BBC Radio 5 Live’s punditry team ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Leading up to his exit from Sky, Hill found himself at the centre of controversy after likening current world champion Max Verstappen to fictional Wacky Races character Dick Dastardly. The ex-Williams driver criticised Verstappen’s aggressive approach in his battle with Lando Norris during October’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The Red Bull star wasn’t happy with Hill’s comments and suggested that Sky, among some other media outlets, were being more supportive of British drivers. Verstappen’s dad, Jos, went further by slamming ‘biased people’ in the paddock.

During a recent interview with the Telegraph, Hill was asked if he thinks that angering Verstappen and Red Bull had impacted in his departure 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,” he explained.

“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.”

Hill was hurt by the accusation of bias and continued: “Red Bull 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].

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“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 Red Bull 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 Red Bull 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.”