BRITAIN'S Damon Hill won, the Brazilian Grand Prix yesterday in his Williams as Rubens Barrichello was unlucky not to gain a podium finish.

Eddie Jordan has never hesitated to put everything on the line to achieve the ambitions in motor racing. The houses were so nearly gone in 1981 and in 1991 but he stayed at it and many times he said that his driving ambition is to walk from the front of the Grand Prix grid with one of his cars on it.

It happened before - Spa in 1994 but there was a lot of luck involved. Yesterday in Sao Paulo Rubens Barrichello's front row start was an honest reflection of the team's pace.

Coupled with Martin Brundle being fastest in the morning warm up, Eddie Jordan's team has never looked stronger. Maybe this will be the year, after all.

While Barrichello was eventually caught out in a battle with Michael Schumacher, his drive was brilliant.

The elements of doubt about the 23-year-old were firmly answered. Three times he went wheel to wheel and passed Ales in a titanic struggle for third place.

The fact that local boy Barrichello was on the front row guaranteed a capacity crowd of 150,000 and he certainly gave them value for money. They could even see flashes of their beloved Senna as Barrichello made his way from fourth to second.

With the track drying and fuel going low the team had an agonising decision: "The track was just too wet at that stage to send him out on slicks, so it was wets," said Eddie Jordan. "In other circumstances it would have been worth a gamble of drys but when you are running at the front you don't take long shots". In the event Barrichello lost 40 seconds with a second stop to go onto slicks, as a clear dry line emerged.

With just 15 of the 71 laps remaining Barrichello had clawed his way back onto the tail of third place man Michael Schumacher. Barrichello went inside the reigning world champion. For a moment he was ahead - but on the wet part of the track, so Schumacher was able to regain the initiative.

The very next corner Barrichello's damp tyres couldn't get enough grip and he slid off into the gravel pits as Villenueve and others had done before him.

"I am disappointed for the team and the crowd that I did not get on the podium," he said. "The crowd were fantastic all weekend - even after the spin. My only problem was the brakes. We taped over the air ducts at the start and as the track dried they got too hot and started to fade. when I passed Schumacher they definitely got too hot."

Martin Brundle, coming to terms with the death of his father and mentor, John, last week, had one of his best practice performances in his long career, but in the race he found it hard to stay in the top 6. With five laps to go and just outside the points in seventh place he spun off and stalled the engine.

Eddie Jordan reflected afterwards on an exciting weekend: "The car looks competitive now in race trim and in practice also", he said. "We seem to be on the pace at last and hopefully we are heading into a good season."