Hill can emerge from Prost's shadow to satisfy demands of the Silverstone masses

Canon-Williams-Renault, number zero, arguably a welcome haven for the

32-year-old Londoner contesting only his eleventh grand prix.

But Hill, a self-possessed and unpretentious individual, carries on

his shoulders the great expectations of an often jingoistic trackside

crowd and the inevitable burden of being the son of a famous father.

Graham Hill, the late double world champion and winner of 14 grands

prix, never won the British -- motive enough for the driver who also

carries the London Rowing Club colours on his helmet to make history

tomorrow.

The London-based motor-racing media pack will be baying for a ''true

Brit'' to abide by Silverstone scripts which have placed Tony Brooks,

Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Watson, James Hunt, and

Nigel Mansell on the top step of the podium.

Mansell's ungracious defection to American Indy racing left a large

publicity vacuum which Hill did not rush to fill. Instead he has

steadily built a reputation as a more than competent understudy to team

leader Alain Prost, shadowing the Frenchman over the line at Magny Cours

last Sunday.

Many cynics suggested that Hill could have eclipsed the triple

champion and deprived him of a record forty-ninth grand prix victory,

but that naively forgets that in doing so it would have reduced Prost's

advantage over Brazilian Ayrton Senna by three valuable points -- and

the setting was in France after all.

Prost, with the blessing of his feisty team patron Frank Williams, may

wave Hill through to the adulation of the Silverstone masses tomorrow.

One thing is certain -- the team-mates will be inhibited from direct

combat which could end in destructive contact and deliver the initiative

to Senna's McLaren-Ford.

Whatever the radio transmissions from pit to cars and back, Hill will

need no reminding that one year ago he hauled an uncompetitive Brabham

around the Silverstone grid and wrestled the ungainly machine home in

fifteenth place.

On that day he watched wistfully and powerless as a rampant Mansell

obliterated the opposition in a car which Hill had honed to perfection

during a second year as the Williams test driver.

It was that innate ability to provide accurate feedback at highly

competitive speeds without damaging the valuable cars which led Williams

and partner engineer Patrick Head to hire Hill as Prost's back-up.

Williams had wanted Senna, but Prost's contract included an exclusion

clause vetoing the Brazilian. Finn Mika Hakkinen, ostensibly under

contract to Lotus, was next on the list and eventually went to McLaren,

where he kicks his heels as development driver.

After the tabloid-incited Mansell furore, Williams did not want messy

litigation so he opted for the relatively old Hill, who, despite having

covered thousands of testing miles in his cars, was almost untried in

top-flight racing.

Unlike most of his contemporaries Hill never served his apprenticeship

in karts, opting instead for 350cc motorcycle competition. John

Kirkpatrick, who now runs the Jim Russell Racing School, recalled an

inauspicious four-wheel debut.

''He came in a blaze of publicity and I was persuaded against my

better judgment to run him in the Brands Hatch winter series for Formula

Ford 2000 cars and, to be honest, he was bloody awful, spinning off at

Paddock bend,'' said the shrewd Scot.

Kirkpatrick advised that there were no shortcuts and Hill, then 22,

stepped down to the less demanding Formula Ford 1600 class before moving

steadily, if unspectacularly, up through the nursery formula. Unlike

most young hot-shots, the Hill curriculum vitae is conspicious for its

lack of wins, which can be counted on one hand.

During 1989 and 1990 Hill graduated to the more muscular F3000

category where fragile cars kept him out of the winner's circle while

Scot Allan McNish took the initiative with 1990 victories at Silverstone

and Brands Hatch.

To accept the relatively lonely task as test driver, albeit for one of

the sport's dominant teams, was a brave decision and provided no

guarantee of a Formula One racing career.

Kirkpatrick, mentor of many young hopefuls, said: ''Damon is a hard

worker, very much like his father, perhaps not the most naturally gifted

driver in the world, but a grafter. I believe he can go all the way, but

Williams should give him a vote of confidence by announcing he remains

with them next year.''

The Scot believes Hill will get the chance to show his ''true mettle''

in the final four races of the year, if and when Prost has the

championship in his grasp.

Within the sport there are several drivers, nearly-men who resent

Hill's inclusion in the crack Didcot organisation's line-up, claiming

they would be swarming all over Prost's identical car.

The Williams-Renault, bristling with technology which would do justice

to a space programme, is the class of the field but Hill is closer to

Prost in qualifying and racing than veteran Italian Riccardo Patrese was

when he was ranged alongside Mansell.

His only major faux pas came within a few hundred yards of the start

of his first Williams race in South Africa when an over-zealous move

behind Senna spun him down the field. Since then only mechanical

problems have kept him off the podium.

Nigel Mansell took 72 grands prix before scoring his first victory at

Brands Hatch in 1985, which perhaps puts some of the growing expectation

into context. Hill's father took 33 races to achieve the same aim.

Hill and wife Georgie, plus sons Oliver, four, and Joshua, two, share

a terraced house in Wandsworth and seem determined not to be sucked into

the unreal ego-inflating hype which can distance so many grand-prix

figures from reality.

Williams insiders claim the good working relationship between Prost

and Hill has fostered an internal team harmony unmatched since Finn Keke

Rosberg and Frenchman Jacques Laffite raced together.

Short of quantum leaps being achieved by McLaren, Benetton, and

Ferrari, the Williams duo should dominate the Silverstone proceedings.

Benetton have been making strong progress exploiting technological

advances, while McLaren will have a new higher-output Ford V8 engine

behind Senna and overshadowed American Michael Andretti.

Ferrari, desperate to restore the pride of Italy and owners Fiat,

possess two of the hardest-charging drivers, Frenchman Jean Alesi and

Austrian Gerhard Berger, but the team's struggle demonstrates that vast

resources and money do not always win a grand prix.

As Hill pulls on his fire-resistant gauntlets and boards the 200mph

Williams tomorrow, Scots David Coulthard, 22, part-time Williams tester,

and Allan McNish, 23, Benetton's main development pilot, will look on

hoping that they can follow the Englishman's route to the front of

grand-prix grids, sooner rather than later.