Hill: Too Much Corporate Power in F1

Former Formula One World Champion Damon Hill says that the corporate development of the sport has dashed his intention of becoming a team owner in the future.

Hill, who beat Michael Schumacher to the 1996 title, spent last year working as a commentator on Sky Digital's Formula One show but has also pondered a move into team management. But he believes the collapse of the Prost and Arrows teams has proven privately owned teams cannot survive - and said that the development of manufacturer-owned outfits has ruined the sport.

"I have steered away from the temptation of running a team," he said. "The sport is owned by multi-national car companies and it is virtually impossible for the independent team owner to succeed without that backing. The sport has suffered. It should be about entertainment.

"The fans want to see drivers racing, not what brand of car is winning, and they are the people who are key to the success of the sport. The companies and some teams are becoming far too corporate for the good of the sport."

Hill partnered Alain Prost at Williams in 1993 and drove alongside Ayrton Senna the following year before the Brazilian great tragically died at the San Marino Grand Prix. But he believes the days of great driver partnerships - like Senna and Prost at McLaren and Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell at Williams in the late 1980s are a thing of the past.

"The drivers' freedom is being bought for the security of the brand," he told the Daily Express. "Teams naturally don't want to put the brand at risk by having a personality who will actually say what he thinks. Ferrari are part and parcel of the problem with Michael Schumacher.

"It is a marketing package and it means that you cannot have Schumacher and Montoya together at Williams or anywhere else."