The Grand Prix Arrows Almost Won

A reigning champion, in a car that wasn't supposed to win

Damon Hill arrived at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix as the reigning world champion — driving for Arrows, a small team that hadn't come close to winning a race in its 18-year history. Hill qualified third, behind title challengers Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, which was already a strong result for the car. What happened next wasn't supposed to be possible for a team like Arrows.

Leading, comfortably, for almost the whole race

Hill took the lead and held it. By the closing laps he'd built an advantage of over 30 seconds — the kind of gap that ends a race, not one a chasing car claws back on pace alone. Arrows had never won a Grand Prix. For most of that Sunday afternoon in Hungary, it looked like they were about to.

One broken washer

With three laps left, Hill's car developed a fault that locked his throttle, traced afterward to a broken washer in the throttle linkage. The car wouldn't respond properly, his pace collapsed, and Villeneuve's Williams caught and passed him for the lead before the finish. Hill crossed the line second — beaten not by a faster car or a better lap, but by a part failing at the exact moment it mattered most.

The closest they ever got

Arrows never won a Grand Prix in their 20 years in Formula One. The 1997 Hungarian GP was their last podium finish of any kind, and the closest the team ever came to the result that would have defined their entire history. Hill's second place that day is remembered less as a result and more as the race Arrows didn't quite get to win.