Hill to see out season

Damon Hill is to see out the rest of the season with Jordan, despite speculation that he would again be considering his future with the team after retiring from last Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Following three excursions off the track at Hockenheim, Hill ignored pit instructions to stay on the circuit and drove his Jordan 199 into the garages to retire. He complained that braking problems made it too dangerous for him to continue.

Hill was using a brake set-up which the team felt was suitable for the high-speed Hocken heimring, but the 38-year-old driver insisted he was unhappy with the feel of the set-up and could not control the car. Teammate Heinz Harald Frentzen was using a similar system but reported no problems under braking.

Hill's retirement from the race, followed by a later incident in the paddock in which he elbowed aside reporters as he made his way back from the pits to the team's motorhome, re-opened the debate on the driver's desire to continue until the end of the season, but Jordan yesterday confirmed that Hill would race on. "It was very disappointing, but that's an end to it," said Jordan commercial director Ian Phillips. "He has stated that he is going to drive through to the end of the season and that's absolutely what he's going to do."

Hill's next race will be in two weeks at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, which could prove a more savoury experience than his recent travails. Hill claimed his first grand prix victory at the tight and twisting Hungaroring with Williams in 1993; he won the event once more, in 1995; and he finished second a further three times: in 1994 and 1996 with Williams and in 1997 driving an uncompetitive Arrows, a race which many consider to be one of Hill's finest performances.

Last year, the circuit was equally good to Hill, offering him fourth place, and three points to bolster Jordan's comeback from the team's worst ever start.

While speculation about Hill's departure from the F1 circus has been rife since Sunday's race, Michael Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, yesterday suggested that the Ferrari driver could be on his way back to the pits as early as the Budapest race.

Schumacher broke his right leg in a head-on collision at the British Grand Prix three weeks ago, and initial diagnoses suggested the German would need up to 12 weeks to recover.

But yesterday Weber said Schumacher would meet doctors on Friday in expectation of an allclear to engage in a test at Ferrari's Fiorano circuit on Saturday. If permission to test is given, and Schumacher reports no problems during the run, Weber said they would then think about the possibility of racing at the Hungaroring. Schumacher, however, later denied that a return in Hungary was a real possibility. "I will undergo a medical examination on Friday and if the doctors say yes, then I will test on Saturday," said Schumacher.

"But I don't think it is likely that I will be testing. I would say my chances are only about five per cent."