DAMON HILL is confident he will be quick in today's qualifying round for his home Grand Prix despite being more than half a second slower than Jacques Villeneuve at the end of the first two free practice sessions at Silverstone yesterday. "I'll be doing my darndest to win," Hill said.
The Rothmans Williams Renault duo were well clear of reigning champion Michael Schumacher, who was fifth fastest, and the Jordan pairing of Barrichello and Brundle in eighth and ninth respectively.
Eddie Irvine was frustrated to finish in 12th place after surviving a spin in the morning session.
As the track is Jordan's main test circuit, and with their factory across the road from the entrance, the team will at least have local knowledge in their favour. At the moment they need all the help they can get. "It's a difficult time," said Eddie Jordan. "We're off the pace and I have to find out why and correct it."
Jordan's early season speed has gone, and as the pressure for results increases, so do the stresses in the team. Martin Brundle has been the first to talk frankly about the problems. "The Peugeot engine is better than the Jordan chassis," he ventured. "The engine cannot compensate for the car's weaknesses not unless there is at least a 60 bhp advantage," said Grand Prix's senior driver.
For Ferrari, Irvine is getting frustrated with equipment failures, lack of testing and, perhaps, organisation that he does not believe to be the best. He is keeping his mouth closed, but a blow up cannot be far away if no serious effort is made to give him a fair crack of the whip.
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