Prost yet to approach Jordan over Trulli

Alain Prost yesterday denied that he had made any approach to Eddie Jordan to secure the early release of new Jordan signing Jarno Trulli from his contract with the Prost team.

Speculation that Jordan would attempt to prise Trulli away from the French outfit for the final two races of this season has been rife since the Italian Grand Prix when Heinz-Harald Frentzen's win added weight to theories that should the team secure third place in the constructors' championship at this weekend's European Grand Prix, Damon Hill would opt for an earlier than expected retirement.

Those theories gained further currency yesterday when F3000 champion and new Prost signing Nick Heidfeld admitted that Prost and Jordan were discussing the possibility of the complex swap deal taking place before the Malaysian Grand Prix in three weeks' time. Yesterday, however, Prost denied that any overtures had been made by Jordan.

"I've heard a lot of rumours and seen a lot of things in the press," he said. "If there is something happening I first need to have a request from Eddie (Jordan) and then when I have that request I will ask Jarno what he wants to do and then I will decide for myself what is best for the team over the next two races and also thinking about the future. But unless I have a request, I have nothing to think about."

The former world champion's denials were echoed by Trulli, who said he would see out the season with Prost.

"I have heard a lot of rumours about me going somewhere else but I don't think anything will happen for the last three races," said the 25-year-old Italian. "I'm still driving for Prost and I'm still trying to do the best I can for them."

However, despite the denials, Prost was careful not to rule out a late transfer bid. "It starts with Eddie. I have not talked to Jarno about this because I'm waiting until something happens."

For Jordan to start the transfer wheels turning, the team first has to secure that third place in the constructors' championship and yesterday, at the Nurburgring, their preparations got off to a rocky start. In the morning free practice session Hill proved the quicker of the two Jordans, if only because Frentzen failed to record a meaningful time thanks to gearbox problems after just two laps out.

Hill's morning was also not without its problems as the Englishman suffered a nightmarish 150 m.p.h. smash, plunging into a tyre wall at turn seven after a puncture had sent him into a terminal spin. The 39-year-old emerged unhurt from the lurid spin but lost out on the remainder of the session and the early part of the afternoon outing.

"Through no fault of my own I spun off after puncturing a tyre on a drain grating that had come loose," Hill said. "I wasn't hurt, but there was a fair amount of damage to the car, which took a while to fix. But I'm happy with how much we got done, given that I lost a lot of running time."

Frentzen too lost out, missing the whole morning session thanks to his gearbox difficulties. The afternoon session turned into a game of catch-up for the German, who lies third, and goes into this final European round, just 10 points behind joint leaders Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine.

"Considering I missed the first which meant there was not much time to set up the car, I am happy with the progress we made," said the German, who finished the day 12th.

"I feel pretty optimistic because, on the basis of what we achieved in the afternoon, I know we can make further improvements."

Frentzen though will be hard pressed to battle a revivified Ferrari. Eddie Irvine's title charge has faltered in recent races but the Irishman yesterday finished fourth thanks to an improved aerodynamic package on his F399. However, the Ferrari number one was still half a second adrift of the predictably quickest Mika Hakkinen and complained of excessive understeer in the morning session.

"All the work we have done over the past few days has paid off and the car is much better, although not perfect," said Irvine. "I am happy with the car and I think we'll be much closer to our main opponents than in the last two races. I don't know if I can get pole, but I'll be aiming for a front row grid position."