To celebrate Damon Hill’s 48th birthday, Vijay Pattni rounds up the Englishman’s greatest F1 moments, ten things you didn’t know about the star – and asks: is he Top Gear’s Stig?

Born to double Formula One world champion Graham Hill, young Damon had motorsport running through his veins.

He began his career racing motorbikes at Brands Hatch at the age of 23, and then raced through Formula Ford, Formula 3000 and even had a race in the British Touring Car Championship in 1989.

But Formula One was where Damon belonged – and here are his greatest moments…

1993 – Hungary

Four retirements – including an engine failure at Silverstone and a puncture at the German Grand Prix – meant Hill’s start to the 1993 Formula One season racing with Williams was tough.

But in Hungary, Damon outclassed the rest and went on to win, marking his first ever F1 victory.

And he didn’t stop there: he followed up his victory in Hungary with two more successive wins in Belgium and Italy, which clinched Williams the 1993 Constructors’ Championship.

1994 – Britain

This was one of Formula One’s most tragic seasons – Damon Hill was partnered at Williams with triple world champion Ayrton Senna, whom many believe to be one of the greatest F1 drivers ever.

But at the Imola race circuit in Italy in 1994, Senna’s Williams F1 car crashed into the side barriers, killing the star driver, just a day after F1 rookie Roland Ratzenberger died during qualifying.

As Nigel Mansell was brought in to replace the late Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill raced to victory on his home turf, in the 1994 British Grand Prix at Silverstone – a feat never achieved by his double world champion father Graham Hill.

Want to see Lewis Hamilton winning the 2008 British Grand Prix at Silverstone? View our exclusive slide show of Hamilton's win

1994 – Suzuka

But this year would hold more drama for Damon, as his long-standing on-track rivalry with Michael Schumacher (pictured) would write another chapter.

Hill’s Silverstone win put him back into contention for the drivers’ championship, and a series of bans and disqualifications for Michael Schumacher had let Hill clean up.

And at the Suzuka race circuit in Japan, Damon Hill stormed to victory in a rain-soaked restart over Schumacher, putting him just one point behind in the championship.

Hill’s racing throughout the 1994 season won him the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

1995 – Australia

Hill started the 1995 Formula One season confidently, notching up wins to put him in the title contention.

But even though Michael Schumacher would hit his renown form and dominate the season, Hill didn’t give up the fight.

At the season finale in Adelaide, Australia, Hill won the race, and by a massive margin: he finished TWO laps ahead of the runner-up.

1996 – Brazil

This was Damon Hill’s year – he took a massive EIGHT race wins and was never out of the top two in qualifying.

In Brazil, Hill won in the pouring rain to take the race win, showing an aptitude for wet-weather driving ability – much like Lewis Hamilton has displayed in his two seasons racing in Formula One.

View our exclusive Lewis Hamilton slide show now

1996 – Suzuka

Before the end of the 1996 Formula One season, Damon Hill discovered he was to be dropped from the Williams team in favour of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

But this didn’t deter the British star from taking victory – Hill won the 1996 Formula One world championship, and was awarded the 1996 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, for the second time.

1997 – Hungary

With offers reportedly from McLaren and Ferrari, Damon Hill was a wanted man in 1996. Free of his Williams commitments, the world waited to see who the new F1 world champion would sign for…

And so when he signed for Arrows – a team who had never won a race in its 20 year history – it was a shock.

All was to change, as in the 1997 F1 race at Hungary, Damon Hill set an electrifying pace and was on course to win, until a mechanical failure slowed his car.

But he still finished second, and would have given the beleaguered Arrows team its first ever podium finish.

1998 – Belgium

Hill started the 1998 Formula One season with Jordan disastrously – his car was off-pace and unreliable, and he was lagging sorely behind in the championship.

But proving his ability in the wet once again, Hill scored a fantastic victory in Belgium at Spa, winning a dramatic race in rain-drenched conditions – a race in which only EIGHT drivers finished.

And the victory at Spa was Jordan’s first ever F1 victory.

Is Damon Hill ‘The Stig’?

Record-breaking stunt driver Russ Swift said: “A lot of people think ‘The Stig’ is Damon Hill.”

And Hill loves playing up to the hype. At the 2007 Autosport International Show in January, a fan asked him if he was Top Gear’s tame racing driver.

Hill replied: “I am not the Stig.

“But then, only the true Messiah denies his divinity.”

And during an episode of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson – who also turned 48 in April this year – joked when Damon Hill was a guest on the show.

Leaning in to smell Damon’s breath, Jeremy nodded and replied to the audience: “Yep… Magnesium”.

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Ten things you didn’t know about Damon Hill

1. Following his father’s death, Damon Hill worked as a labourer and motorcycle courier to fund his education.

2. Damon’s son – Joshua Hill – is currently racing in the Ginetta Junior championship.

3. Hill started racing in motorbikes – not cars – in 1983.

4. He took a race car course at the Winfield Racing School in France.

5. His Williams F1 car had to be specially adapted to accommodate his size 12 feet.

6. He is only one of three people to receive the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award twice.

7. He set up the P1 International supercar club – but is no longer a part in the administration.

8. He jammed with ex-Beatle George Harrison.

9. He played a guitar solo on Def Leppard’s Euphoria album.

10. He played guitar to his fans at Silverstone on his final F1 season while his boss, Eddie Jordan, played the drums.