Following David Coulthard's defence of his team-mate yesterday, Mika Hakkinen has insisted his poor start to the season does not reflect a lack of motivation and that he expects a turnaround in fortunes soon.

The two-time world champion has scored just one point in three races and is languishing 25 points behind championship leader Michael Schumacher but as the Finn prepares for tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix he has insisted that his motivation is still high.

"What happened in Brazil or Melbourne for example, if you ask me did they get me down for this grand prix then I say no," he said after yesterday's free practice session in which he finished an encouraging third.

"Those sort of things can bring you down and demotivate you but then you have to bring your professionalism out and really work hard with the team and understand what's going on. There are always ways you can find extra motivation, situations which bring it out."

But while Hakkinen won't acknowledge any slip in motivation, his confidence has surely been undermined by an Australian Grand Prix in which he suffered a major accident, when his front suspension failed, and a Brazilian race when he was left sitting on the grid after erring with his clutch and stalling at the start.

It is scarily reminiscent of his start to last season when he didn't score until the third race of the season, at Imola, when he finished second and only began to pose a threat in mid-season, when he took three victories in four races, at the A1 Ring, Hockenheim and in Hungary. He remains convinced that like 2000, a turnaround will happen and he will again be in a position to challenge for the title.

"It's very much possible that that kind of turnaround can happen again and I very much hope so," he said. "I just have to be positive. I trust in the capability of the team and I know they can turn around the situation and the performance will go up.

"I was behind Michael by three or four tenths in Brazil, David won the grand prix, you can't say the situation is bad. What I really need is just a couple of good results."

Gaining that result will not be easy, however. Hakkinen has failed to shine at Imola in eight visits to the Italian circuit and a sole second place last year, after spinning off while in the lead, is his best result. But while the McLaren number one desperately needs a result he would not concede that a positive performance here is crucial.

"I don't want to start saying this is a really important race because I don't want to put that pressure on myself. I just want to race this weekend and enjoy it as much as I can and get the possible result."

Yesterday's fourth place in free practice, behind Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, seemed encouraging but Hakkinen will have been dismayed by the 1.2 second gap. Michael Schumacher was predictably quick on both the damp track of the morning session and in the drier afternoon and claims to have solved handling problems which he believes robbed him of a better performance in Brazil two weeks ago. The news that Ferrari expect their car to run in Melbourne rather than Sao Paolo shape here will do nothing for the hopes of those further down the standings including Jordan, who yesterday could only manage ninth place for Jarno Trulli and 13th for Heinz Harald Frentzen.

The Irish squad was pleased with its performance, however, leading to speculation that both EJ11s were running heavy fuel loads in order to firm up their choice of tyre for Imola's demanding surface, which puts a premium on mechanical grip as the cars struggle through the chicanes and across the high kerbs.

Like Hakkinen, Trulli will be hoping that tomorrow's race will see a conclusive end to the run of bad luck that has seen him score just two points in the last 10 races, both of those coming in Brazil a fortnight ago. The Italian admitted yesterday that he was feeling good about his first race on home soil this year.

"We did a good job today," he said. "We had an interesting second session where we gained a lot of data for the race. It's difficult to understand how competitive we are but we are pretty confident. We know Ferrari, McLaren and Williams are really strong but we also know that we can improve and that we are not so far away."

Jordan will be praying for a more profitable race than last year, when both drivers were forced to retire with the gearbox problems which plagued the team throughout 2000. So far, the EJ11 gearbox has proved reliable, though both Trulli and Frentzen reported clutch difficulties, Trulli in Brazil and Frentzen in Malaysia.

While the Jordans apparently deceived to potentially flatter themselves yesterday, Eddie Irvine's Jaguar R2 came right out and told the world it is a better package here than at any of the opening races of the season. In the afternoon session, on a constantly improving track, Irvine rose as high as fourth before slipping to an eventual seventh as his rivals enjoyed the improved conditions.

Despite the improvement, Irvine admitted he was still struggling with the R2, but said he was expecting further improvements in qualifying when the team will use a new evolution of the R2's Cosworth CR3 engine.

"We have similar challenges to the ones we normally experience," said the Irishman. "We need to keep working, but I'd be surprised if there was a miracle cure to get us much further up the grid than we have been recently.

"Understeer and front tyre graining seem to be my main enemies. The new front wing certainly gives us more options, but I'd like more time with it before making a definite choice. For tomorrow (Saturday) we have new development of the Cosworth. We tested this at Jerez last week and we'll see how that goes in qualifying."