Jordan's Damon Hill began the process of turning his season around at Imola yesterday when he posted the fourth fastest time in the free practice sessions ahead of tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix.

Hill got off to a nightmare start in Australia, spinning out on the first lap, and his ill-luck continued in Brazil, forced off the track after just 10 laps.

But yesterday he proved he is not to be written off by splitting the Ferraris with a superb lap in the last minutes of the afternoon session. "I'm really pleased with fourth place and am confident that we can go faster," he said. "I feel happy with the car; the balance is continually improving, and by the end of today's sessions it felt very good. I would be happy if I could do the same in qualifying." But team-mate Heinz Harald Frentzen, currently lying joint second in the championship alongside Mika Hakkinen, found the roles of the previous two races reversed as he could only manage 16th in the morning session. He complained of "bad understeer", and in the afternoon managed only 14 more laps before retiring to the garage.

While Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard were once again dominant, world championship leader Eddie Irvine came closest to disrupting the McLaren hegemony. He was third fastest on the day, just a tenth of a second slower than Coulthard.

Irvine was the subject of much transfer speculation earlier in the week, with the Italian Gazzetto dello Sport newspaper suggesting he had signed an option to race for Jordan next year. Although he and Jordan strenuously denied that any deal had been done, the Ulsterman sent another strong message of his intent not to settle for second best to his Ferrari paymasters by outpacing team-mate Michael Schumacher by three-tenths of a second. "We have reverted to a set-up which is similar to the one we used in Australia and the car is much better," Irvine said. "I feel I can really push it again and enjoyed myself on the track today. I tried three different set-ups and I know which one to use now. I only used one set of tyres all day, so there is more to come. "We have closed the gap to the quickest, but I think second row is my realistic target in qualifying."

For Irvine's team-mate it was a frustrating day. Running with a new wing tested at the team's Fiorano circuit on Thursday, Schumacher was unable to find the pace to match Irvine, and in the afternoon session he had to retire after damaging a wheel.