Phil Hill

American racing driver

America's champion from Ferrari's sports cars

Phil Hill won Le Mans three times and became the first American born world champion when he took the 1961 title with Ferrari.

Phil Hill was born in Miami, Florida, on 20 April 1927, and raised in Santa Monica, California. He left university to work as a mechanic and race cars, trained with Jaguar in England in 1949, and signed for Ferrari's sports car team in 1956. In 1958 he and Olivier Gendebien won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first win there for an American born driver, and the pair won again in 1961 and 1962.

His Grand Prix debut came in a Maserati at the 1958 French Grand Prix at Reims, and Ferrari soon gave him Formula 1 drives as well. In 1959, his first full season, he scored three podiums. At Monza in 1960 he won the Italian Grand Prix, the last championship race won by a front engined car.

The 1961 season was the high point. Hill won the Belgian Grand Prix and went into the Italian Grand Prix in a close fight with teammate Wolfgang von Trips. Von Trips and fifteen spectators were killed in a crash during the race. Hill won at Monza and with it the championship, and Ferrari did not travel to the final round in the United States.

He left Ferrari after 1962 and drove for ATS, Cooper and others without the same success, making his last championship start in 1966. Hill finished with 49 starts, 3 wins, 6 pole positions and 16 podiums. In sports cars he also won the 12 Hours of Sebring three times. He died on 28 August 2008.

1 world titles, 3 wins, 6 pole positions, 49 starts.

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