Why was I so certain of that? Simple - Adrian Newey would be designing the car and they were a solid, well-established team. In my mind, those two facts alone were enough to convince me that McLaren would be the best car in 1998 and they would present me with my best chance of winning the championship again.

I had several approaches at the end of 1996, including one from Eddie Jordan, but I was hedging my bets. I wanted to find a team where I could be happy for a year, hopefully be competitive and then get myself into McLaren for the following season. At least, that was the plan, and that was where Tom Walkinshaw came in.

I like Tom. He has a reputation for being tough. He is a no-nonsense businessman and he doesn't muck about. He offered me a contract which didn't tie me in for two or five years. It was a single year, exactly what I wanted. His attitude was 'give me a year to prove myself and, at the same time, you show me what you can do in my team' and that was fine with me. It was an honest approach from him and, I thought, it gave us both what we wanted. He had the world champion, I had a one-year deal.

Something could have happened at Arrows if Tom had got a good engine. He had made the move to using Bridgestone tyres, which I felt would be better. Tyres are absolutely crucial to how the cars work and everything I had heard about the Bridgestones was positive - and also Arrows had done a lot of the development work for them. Rather ironically, my enthusiasm led to McLaren pursuing the Bridgestone route because, during my negotiations with McLaren, Adrian was asking me about the Bridgestones and I told him he had to get them. So he did. Unfortunately, I was not there to enjoy them, but I'm getting ahead of the story.

When I joined Arrows in 1997, I was confident that this was a team on the move, one that was going to improve quickly. I thought the Yamaha engine would work a lot better than it did, largely on the basis of promises that were made before the season, and I put a lot of faith in Tom's ability to turn things around. I had it in mind that if I couldn't get myself into McLaren, then Arrows could be a place where I could think about staying.

Looking back, perhaps I put too much faith in Tom and the team, because things did not turn out that well. We had one fantastic day in Hungary, when I overtook Michael Schumacher and came within a few miles of winning, but other than that, it was clear to me that I should move on.

I had kept in contact with Ron Dennis, McLaren's managing director, and spoken to him regularly throughout the season. He knew how much I wanted to drive for his team and how keen I was to do a deal. Talking about it is one thing, though. Finalising it is quite another.

I left Arrows because I didn't think they would be competitive, and that has always been the most important factor governing my decision about which team to drive for. As far as I was concerned, the most important thing was to get myself back in the frame and that is why I had my sights set on McLaren.

Throughout 1997 I was hoping Arrows would come good, but also that I could work a situation where I could get into McLaren. I was in regular contact with Ron Dennis, trying to find out if there would be a place for me in the team.

It is just about impossible to keep anything secret in Formula One and, before too long, it became known that I was available. Soon, people were falling over themselves to talk to me and I had offers from a lot of teams. The only problem was that none of them was McLaren.

By then, it was evident that the performance of the Arrows was not going ahead fast enough to give me a chance of winning races for them in the following year. That was clear as soon as Tom failed to get the Honda engine. For a long while he expected to do the deal, but another team tied it up before him - Jordan.

Because I had turned down Eddie Jordan in 1997, I had contact with him. I had been contacted by Alain Prost and Peter Sauber, but my primary goal was to get a drive at McLaren because I knew that would put me into a championship-winning situation. All these discussions were on .he boil and then Hungary happened.

It was a fantastic race for me, the sort of day when nearly everything goes right. I qualified well, got into second place it the start, then I overtook Michael Schumacher and after hat it was a case of driving off into the distance. For lap after lap, the feeling was fantastic and it looked certain that I would win Arrows' first-ever Grand Prix until, a few miles from home, the car stuck in gear.

I still came second, though, which got everybody's attention. For me, it was a moment of glory, the peak of my year. In fact, it was the peak of everything at Arrows and it coincided with the time when a decision had to be made about where I would go. I was waiting to see what McLaren would say, still hoping that we could sort out a deal and end all the speculation.

At the same time, I still had to make up my mind about what to tell the other teams, because they had made me good offers, and here I was, putting myself in a position where I was waiting on McLaren to jump my way.

The problem when you are negotiating in situations like this is that you can end up boxed in, with no position from which to negotiate. You always need to have options available to you and that was the danger I faced. If I told the others that I wasn't interested, Ron could have waited until the cows came home before making me an offer. He knew I wanted the drive and he could have exploited that by delaying his decision and playing me off the other drivers he had in mind. I could have ended up having nowhere to go.

It was obvious that I had to put pressure on him, and that meant I had a very stressful time knowing that this was a window of opportunity that would not last very long. I was being offered fantastic opportunities at other teams (or I could have stayed at Arrows), but I wanted to go to the most competitive one, naturally.

Then Hungary happened and, after that, just about every team boss in the sport got on the phone to me. The last one was Eddie, who rang four days after everybody else. The first thing I said to him was 'You're the last one to call.' He said, 'I didn't think there was any chance you would be interested.' At least we started off with a laugh, which was exactly what I needed at that time.

Things were not going well with McLaren. I had met with Ron Dennis, and he seemed keen for me to join the team. Then I got an offer from McLaren - and it took me by surprise.

During my discussions with Ron, I had made it clear that there were certain things I expected. I'm not motivated by money, but equally that is one of the ways drivers are ranked in the sport, and if you offer to drive for nothing then that is your perceived worth as a Formula One driver. I didn't want to break his bank by any means, but I wanted to be sure that he was as committed to me as I would be to his team and, as he was wont to repeat, 'money is not a problem'. Additionally, he knew very well what was I being paid to drive by Tom Walkinshaw.

I tend not to overstate my worth. If anything, I'm more self-effacing, but the facts are that I am a world champion and I expected to be paid a retainer that reflected that. I also expected to be treated as well as the other driver in the team because I felt I was at least as good as anybody in Formula One.

He took all my points on board and said there would be no problem with any of them. Then, when he finally got back to me, his offer was way below what we had discussed. For one thing, he wanted me to accept a contract that said I only got paid if I won races. There were no bonuses for scoring points, nothing for coming second or third and nothing if I was winning a race when the car failed. And that happened a lot to McLaren in the 1997 season, when the Mercedes engine proved unreliable. The bottom line was that I could turn up to races, get pole position, lead the race for all but one lap, then have the car break down and I would walk away without being paid a penny.

In fact, the contract that I was offered would have meant me earning less money than my team-mate, who I was told would have been Mika Hakkinen. Ron is very close to Mika, and he has been ever since Hakkinen survived a massive crash while driving a McLaren in Adelaide in 1995.

Although Ron prides himself on never favouring one driver over another, I had the distinct impression that, if I drove for him, it would be as Hakkinen's deputy. There was no way I could accept that.

I have nothing against Mika. He is a very fast driver with a lot of talent, and I would have been quite happy to have been in a team with him, but I was not going to be his support act. At the time I was talking to Ron about going to McLaren, I had won 21 Grand Prix and a world championship; Mika had never so much as won a Formula One race, yet he was the guy who was going to be earning more money. To me, that would have been getting off on the wrong foot.

One other worrying concern was that he would not talk beyond a one-year deal. I took this to suggest that I would just be warming up the seat for Michael Schumacher, something else I was not prepared to do.

Along with many other things, it gave me the distinct impression that he was actually reluctant to give up what he had. I was working hard to get a place but, for marketing reasons and out of loyalty, I don't think he ever wanted to change things around with his drivers. Mercedes, who make their engines, and West, McLaren's main sponsor, were happy with David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen's image and I was even told the pair were popular with Mercedes because they looked German! There was not a lot I could do about that - another one for the 'strange but true' Formula One story collection.

The more I thought about it, the more I realised that Ron only wanted to give people the impression that he had negotiated with me, and that it was I who had scuppered the deal. Ron presented me with an offer that he knew I was not going to accept and then, when I turned them down, he was able to shrug his shoulders and blame me. Whatever else you might think of him, there's no denying that Ron Dennis is one of the most manipulative operators in the sport.

Adrian Newey, the man whom I had wanted to follow to McLaren, was doing his bit, pushing for me and encouraging those around him to jump on the Hill bandwagon, but the time came to call a halt. Adrian was new to the team and I did not want him to be in a position where he would jeopardise the start of his career with them. Things had not turned out the way I had hoped, but Adrian still had a fantastic opportunity and, as I imagined he would, he did a great job with his first McLaren design.

So that was it. I told Ron that I could not accept his offer and he didn't seem that surprised. I would have been in a weak position within the team to start with and, although I have been given a lot of criticism for my decision, I am happy with it. If I had gone to McLaren, I would not have been happy and I would not have had the relationship of trust that any driver needs. I had spent so long trying to get to that team and I had had so many conversations and made so many plans, but now was the time to let it go. Nevertheless, I put down the telephone to Ron and said to myself: 'Hill, what have you done?'

Still, there was a major decision to be made and I had to be rational. With McLaren out of the way, I had some good offers to look at. Sauber had offered me a substantial deal, but I was not convinced the car would be competitive, and I turned down that offer first of all. That left me three choices - Tom Walkinshaw, Jordan and Prost. Tom did not have a competitive engine sorted out, so that knocked him out of the running, and initially I was very attracted to Alain's team. Indeed, I came very close to joining Prost, because I like Alain and I respect him enormously. They had Bridgestone tyres and the Peugeot engine, both of which looked good on paper, and there seemed to be a lot more enthusiasm about the place since Alain had taken it over.

I had one big problem with the whole thing, though. I was very uncomfortable about being the only 'rosbif in a French team and, when I voiced these concerns, I was not given any reassurance by Alain that my fears were unfounded. Maybe I was being paranoid, because I am sure all the people at Prost are perfectly nice, but believe me, when you have been through some experiences in Formula One, that's enough to make you look at every aspect of every deal with a very fine-tooth comb. I stacked it up, thought about it, and I knew I would not be comfortable.

Alain was very upset and he made it clear to various people, including the French Press. That took me by surprise, because I had not expected him to be so bitter and so public with his feelings. We had been team-mates and he is a man I admire a hell of a lot, but he should have dealt with it better. It was all a bit of sour grapes.

Amid everything else that he said to the journalists, Alain came out with the old line about me only being interested in money. It's an easy thing to throw into conversation and it sounds like he has taken the moral high ground, and that I am mercenary. In fact, Alain got his facts wrong. There was no justification in what he said, because there was very little difference between the retainer he was offering me and the amount I took from Eddie. Both of them offered me a lot less than Peter Sauber had done and Alain's offer was barely half the sum that Tom had offered me. So much for only looking at the bottom line.

I wanted to be happy with the money, but that was not what made up my mind for me. The decision came down to security and competitiveness and, as I thought it over, I could not get over the big problem that Alain was going to have to face - his team had never built a car.

Jordan, on the other hand, seemed to have everything going for it. Eddie's approach to the sport is healthy and this has rubbed off on the rest of the team. They want to be competitive and they are desperate to win their first Grand Prix, but they are not going to lose their sense of humour.

If proof of that were needed, it came with his initial approach to me. Everybody knew that, in 1996, Eddie had made me an offer, but I had turned it down because I just wanted a one-year deal. That was why he took his time over coming back to me in 1997 - he thought I might turn him down again.

Eventually, Eddie put himself in the frame, but it was late in the day and by then I had almost ruled him out. I had to put a timescale on making the decision, because I didn't want the whole saga dragging on until the end of the year, and when Eddie first spoke to me, I doubted there was time to meet all the people we would need to speak to in order to get a deal done - team personnel, sponsors, his people, my people. Then, I had some good luck.

After the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, I was planning to get a lift back to England in Tom Walkinshaw's plane. The problem was that, by the time I got to the airport, Tom had already left. I was stranded until, like a good Samaritan, Eddie appeared to offer me a lift back and, as good fortune would have it, all the key people were on board from the team and from Gallaher, the tobacco company who sponsor Jordan through their Benson & Hedges brand.

We didn't do the deal in mid-air - that really would be a dramatic story - but we did make a lot more progress than I could have possibly expected. By the time I got off the plane, Eddie had made me an exciting offer and the people around him had backed everything up. In such a way, Formula One conducts its life - private jets, clandestine meetings and last-minute deals.

Still, it was a big decision. I took a long time analysing all the factors in all the offers from all the teams. Every single one had 75% of the ingredients but 25% was not there. There was always something missing. Jordan, for instance, were running on Goodyear tyres rather than Bridgestones, and that might have proved to be a problem. A little while later, they tried to get Bridgestones, but Benetton got there instead and the chance had gone. Goodyear had announced they were pulling out at the end of 1998, so I had worries about their commitment. As things turned out, they put in a fantastic effort to close the gap on their Japanese competitors.

My feeling was that Jordan could continue where they had left off the previous year, knocking on the door of the top four. They seemed to have made a lot of steps forward, with a new wind tunnel and equipment in place, and they seemed well established at a certain level in Formula One. The snag with that situation was that they had lost the Peugeot deal, so they needed a new supplier, and there was a feeling that the Honda engine was not as powerful as the Peugeot.

Above all those fears, though, there was excitement running through my veins. Honda appealed to me because, underneath all that heavy industry, they are a racing organisation. The way they go about racing comes from the heart and, when they put their mind to it, there are very few companies in the world who can put as much into the sport. What they need is for somebody to give them that spark, the desire, and then they are capable of delivering the best machinery to get results. This would be Jordan's opportunity.

Of course, they make cars, but at the same time, there are people throughout the company who love and value racing. It's a completely different attitude from a company like Ford, who make cars and also do some racing on the side to keep up their profile. Honda are more like Ferrari and, like them, they have the potential to be a formidable force - if they put their collective minds to it.

If that all sounds a bit over the top, you have to remember that I come from a bike background - and Honda have always produced the most competitive bike machinery. Yamaha and Suzuki have always been there racing, but Honda are the innovators, the company that comes up with the ideas that change sport. They produced a groundbreaking six-cylinder 250cc engine and turned out a four-stroke bike engine that rewed to 24,000 rpm. They also made the monkey bike that got me started in motor-sport, so you could say I've been with Honda since the word go. My first-ever race was, in fact, on a Honda CB 500 in 1979 (when Ralf Schumacher was three years old).

The more I talked to Eddie, the more important the Honda aspect became to me. They are an amazing company, and I knew the potential was there but that it was not being tapped completely. To somebody like me, who has an inquisitive mind, a competitive spirit and a sense of ambition, that was intriguing.

There were other bonuses too. I liked the fact that Jordan had a British sponsor to whom I would be a big asset. I knew I would be key to their marketing programmes so it would be important to them that the team did well and, because they were enthusiastic about having me on board, that gave me an added sense of security. On top of it all, there was the chance to go down in history as the first man to win a race behind the wheel of a Jordan car.

It was all too much to resist and, after months of toing and froing, my decision was made - I wanted to drive for Jordan, and I rang up Eddie to tell him the good news. After that, it was just a case of thrashing out a contract until we announced the marriage to the world.