Graham and Damon Hill are undeniably one of the two most celebrated names in the history of Formula One (F1). Together they represent 25 glorious years of F1 racing which saw them win a total of three world championships. Their fierce determination and death-defying courage saw the Hills stamp their authority in F1 as they thrashed records that remain unbeaten till date. While Graham Hill is the only driver to win the so-called Triple Crown of Motorsport, Damon too is the only son of a world champion to win the world title like his father. However, it wasn't just their world titles and record victories that helped the father-son duo, win a fan following all over the world. Besides their amazing racing careers, it was the charismatic personality and quick wit of the Hills that made them one of the most popular champions of F1 racing.

Norman Graham Hill was born on February 15th 1929 in Hampstead, London. By the age of 24, he was bitten by the racing bug after a few laps around Brands Hatch in a F3 car and hence quit his six-year-old job at Smith Instruments to become a mechanic and eventually an instructor at a racing school. When Graham met Colin Chapman of Team Lotus in the mid 1950s he had already competed in a couple of races. After talking his way with Chapman into the Lotus team, Graham started of as a part-time mechanic to gradually become a full time employee and an occasional driver for Lotus.

Graham got his first big break as a F1 driver in 1958 when Team Lotus headed by Chapman made its F1 debut. Graham's premier F1 race was the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, which saw Graham retire with a half-shaft failure. Similar disappointing results followed as Graham struggled with his uncompetitive and failure prone Lotus throughout the 1958 season. Hence at the end of the 1958 season, an ambitious Graham switched from Lotus to BRM for the next few seasons.

Graham's most successful year with the BRM team was the 1962 season which saw him clinch his first world title in sensational style taking thrilling wins at Holland, Germany, Italy and South Africa. His next impressive triumph came in the year 1966 when Graham raced a Lola-Ford to victory at the Indianapolis 500 in the United States. Graham then switched to Lotus in 1967 in the hope of securing another world title. His aspiration was soon realised as Graham led Team Lotus to win his second world championship in 1968. Graham's second world title became the pinnacle of his success in the years that followed as a horrible accident in the 1969 United States Grand Prix almost ended his racing career. Nonetheless, with steely determination Graham continued to race and did not retire from the sport until 1975. He retired from F1 as the only man to win the Triple Crown of motorsport having conquered all three races- the Monaco GP, the Indy 500, and the Le Mans 24 Hours- in his glorious racing career.

Following his retirement Graham became actively involved in the development of his own racing team named Embassy Hill. However, before he could power his own racing team to glory, the English legend passed away in a plane crash in November 1975. Graham Hill left behind his wife, two daughters and son Damon Hill.

Born on September 17, 1960, Damon Hill started his F1 racing career rather late just like his father. He spent most of his younger years racing personally assembled motorcycles before switching to four wheelers at the age of 25. Damon's first season racing a four-wheeler was for the Formula Ford Racing Championship in 1985. In 1986, Damon entered Formula three (F3) and raced in the championships for three years without much successful. After scoring just 3 wins in F3, Damon then switched to F3000 to face another lean patch when he failed to score a single victory for three years despite being a race leader on a number of occasions. Nonetheless, he got noticed for his hard work and was signed-up as a test driver for team Williams in 1991.

The year 1992 saw Damon get his first shot at F1 racing for the Brabham team. Although, his debut season was quite a debacle as Damon managed to qualify just twice in eight races owing to his completely incompetent Brabham. Despite his poor F1 start, Damon got a golden opportunity to race for the Williams teams for the 1993 season, which he grabbed with both hands. That season Damon not only won his first three races but also finished an impressive third in the overall driver's championship tally. The succeeding year, Damon brilliantly led team Williams after the death of his partner Ayrton Senna and was set to win his first world title before a controversial crash at the last race in Adelaide with Michael Schumacher of Benetton-Ford ultimately resulted in Hill losing the championship to Schumacher by one point.

Hill managed the same result in the 1995 season, although this time, Schumacher reclaimed the championship with a good 32-point lead over Damon. After his second consecutive loss, many had started doubting Hill's competence to win a championship and when Hill responded with a world title in 1996, none could question his driving genius. Securing eight wins in sixteen races Damon powered his way to his first world title and became the only racer son, of a former world champion, to also win a world championship.

In spite of giving Williams a world championship, Hill was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in team Williams at the end of 1996, which saw the English Champion move to Arrow in 1997 and later to Jordan in 1998. Hill earned team Jordan its first F1 victory at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix and finally retired from the sport after finishing his two-year contract with Jordan in 1999.

Damon Hill left F1 as the champion son of a racing legend with a world title and 22 GP victories under his belt, which included a special victory at the 1994 British Grand Prix, a race his father had never won in his long and successful career.