RacingThirty years after lifting the 1996 Formula 1 crown with Williams, Damon Hill will fire up his restored FW18 for a run up the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill on July 9 to 12, 2026. Williams will mark the anniversary with a bigger presence at the Sussex event, bringing team principal James Vowles, Formula 1 reserve driver Luke Browning, and three-time W Series champion and Williams ambassador Jamie Chadwick.
Williams said Hill will be reunited with the FW18 for the hillclimb and will be honored on the Goodwood House balcony. The team confirmed he is scheduled to drive on Saturday, July 11. Williams added that its Heritage crew has restored the car to period-correct specification for the run, returning one of F1’s most dominant chassis to the spotlight it once owned.
“Goodwood is an incredibly special event that showcases the best of British motorsport, and it’s an honour to be taking on the hillclimb alongside Damon, Jamie and Luke this year,” said James Vowles, Williams team principal, in a Williams team announcement ahead of the event. He added, “To see Damon reunited with the FW18 as we mark 30 years since his World Drivers’ Championship is hugely meaningful for the team and for motorsport fans. Moments like these bring together our past, present and future, and that’s something we’re proud to celebrate.”
Hill welcomed the reunion in the same message from the team. “I am delighted and very excited to be reunited with my championship-winning FW18 and Williams who made it all possible at this summer’s Festival of Speed,” said Damon Hill, 1996 F1 world champion and Williams ambassador, in a Williams announcement ahead of the event. “Thanks to the team at Grove for their work in getting the FW18 back on track. I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel!”
Hill’s 1996 season in the FW18 set the mark for control over a full campaign. He won eight races, including the title clincher at Suzuka, to beat teammate Jacques Villeneuve to the championship. According to Williams, the team won 12 of the 16 races that year. The FW18 became the car that capped Hill’s rise, and it secured a chapter in F1 history for the Hill family, with Damon joining his father Graham as world champions.
Across the Goodwood weekend, Williams plans to run a busy program. The team said Vowles will also get behind the wheel, with Browning and Chadwick taking part too. For fans, it puts past, present, and future on the same strip of tarmac, and it brings a title-winning machine back to life where they can see and hear it work.