Hill gets the green light

Eddie Jordan yesterday gave his backing to Damon Hill staying with the team for the remainder of the season after the Briton finished fifth in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Hill, who still refused to comment on his future after what was supposed to be his last race of the season, was just behind team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jordan admitted that he would like to see Hill stay.

"It was a great day for Damon and for the fans," said Jordan.

"After his performance today, I am not sure he'll want to stop. It is up to him but the team is behind him and would like him to continue if he can drive the way he drove today. If he keeps this up, he should continue until the end of the season."

Jordan's comments seem to be the clearest indication yet that Hill will not leave the sport but the driver himself still refused to comment on his plans and dismissed requests for some kind of announcement with a curt "not today".

Hill was however, pleased with the result and if any inferences can drawn, appears to still feel himself to be part of the Jordan set-up. "I was competitive all weekend which was the key factor," he said.

"It's a special weekend but to be fair this weekend has been, for a lot of reasons, very difficult to enjoy and I've had to shut out my emotions and get on with the job."

"I feel good that we got a good result for the team so we can be confident that we're going in the right direction."

The waters are muddied still further by persistent pit lane rumours which yesterday suggested that Formula 3000 star Nick Heidfeld is due to test with Jordan at Monza next week. Heidfeld (22) is currently leading the F3000 season, racing for West Competition, the training ground for future McLaren drivers. Heidfeld is under contract to the world champions but last week the Woking team appeared ready to let Heidfeld go to Jordan temporarily to further his education still more in advance of his eventual fully blown entry into F1 in a McLaren Merecedes.

Heidfeld, from Moenchengladbach, also the home town of Frentzen, came up through German single seaters, before comfortably winning the German F3000 title. A move to the European stage followed and last year he was narrowly pipped for the title by Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya, who has since gone on to huge success in the American CART series, a championship which he currently leads.

This year, however, has seen the young German take three of the opening five rounds of the European championship and he is widely tipped as a major star of the future. Last week Heidfeld admitted that he would welcome the chance to drive the Jordan and if he does figure in next week's test programme in Italy, which begins tomorrow, it will be a serious blow to Hill's chances of hanging on until the end of the season.

Jordan would not confirm yesterday whether Heidfeld will be present at the three-day test and also refused to say when an announcement on Hill's future would be made. The future of Hill's team-mate, Frentzen, is thankfully more secure. The German last week announced that Jordan had taken up their option on his contract for 2000 and Frentzen celebrated with another three points yesterday, just beaten into fourth by Ralf Schumacher. "This was another good race result," he said.

"We were very close to third place, but we were not quick enough in the first two thirds of the race and, although I caught up with Ralf at the end I was not able to overtake him. Michael's accident looked really bad and I'm thinking about him and how he is."