The Benson & Hedges Jordan team announced today that 1996 World Champion Damon Hill would be driving for the team (who will use Mugen Honda engines) for 1998 and 1999.

At the press conference, Jordan revealed that the deal had been made 10 days ago, shortly after the Italian Grand Prix where Damon joined Eddie Jordan, Technical Director Gary Anderson and the B&H management on a private flight back from Monza. This predates announcements by Sauber, Prost, and Arrows indicating that Jordan was Hill's first choice rather than his last chance.

"Naturally I a delighted to have signed Damon, " said Eddie. "This gives us a blend of youth and experience, with Ralf and Damon making a very exciting line up for next season. We tried to get Damon last year but didn't, so we signed two young drivers and invested the money in the technical side. Now, one year on, we are able to sign Damon and hopefully that will help us become a winning team."

Damon said "I believe that the very strong Mugen Honda package, plus the technical facilities now in place at Jordan, means that I can win more races and go for my second World Championship. I am very positive about this deal. I did not sign for Jordan last year because I was not sure about the team's abilities, but this year they have joined the upper echelons of Formula One teams and they have an impressive package."

Benetton have confirmed that Giancarlo Fisichella and test-driver Alexander Wurz will race for them in 1998.

Wurz said "This is like a dream for me. I have known about this deal for some time and I wanted to tell the world, but until today I have not been able to mention it"

This will probably mean that Gerhard Berger will retire when his contract with Benetton expires at the end of the season.

Summary

The Williams duo seemed to be unbeatable today. Frentzen topped the times today followed by Villeneuve. Barrichello clocked an excellent third.

Notes

• There were a lot of spins today due to the slippery and new track.
• Hill parked his car beside the track after 24 laps.
  • Weather during sessions: Sunny (14-20 °C)

The Times

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Frentzen (Williams-Renault) G Villeneuve (Williams-Renault) G Barrichello (Stewart-Ford) B Fisichella (Jordan-Peugeot) G Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes) G Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) G M. Schumacher (Ferrari) G Berger (Benetton-Renault) G Diniz (Arrows-Yamaha) B Irvine (Ferrari) G Hill (Arrows-Yamaha) B Herbert (Sauber-Petronas) G Alesi (Benetton-Renault) G Trulli (Prost-Mugen) B Morbidelli (Sauber-Petronas) G R. Schumacher (Jordan-Peugeot) G Nakano (Prost-Mugen) B Magnussen (Stewart-Ford) B Katayama (Minardi-Hart) B Salo (Tyrrell-Ford) G Verstappen (Tyrrell-Ford) G Marques (Minardi-Hart) B 107% rule B: Bridgestone G: Goodyear

1m 11.527s 1m 11.638s 1m 11.798s 1m 11.899s 1m 11.902s 1m 11.907s 1m 12.265s 1m 12.283s 1m 12.519s 1m 12.548s 1m 12.614s 1m 12.751s 1m 12.820s 1m 12.935s 1m 12.966s 1m 13.041s 1m 13.280s 1m 13.286s 1m 13.348s 1m 14.079s 1m 14.188s 1m 14.739s 1m 16.534s

The Quotes

• Berger: "We did a lot of work today which give us enough material to examine tonight in preparation for qualifying. We need to improve and I think we can. I am still not happy with my lap time, but with the information we have gathered on the tyres, I am quite confident for tomorrow."

• Alesi:"This was a productive practice session. We tried many things and with the information we have gathered we will be able to decide which direction to take for tomorrow's session. Lap times are very close therefore I expect a very hard qualifying session."

• Herbert:" It's been a bit confusing today as we have been trying both the Goodyear prime tyre and the option, and the track conditions have been changing with the temperature. I'd say it's too early to draw any firm conclusions."

• Morbidelli: "I agree with Johnny, and feel we must wait to see what sort of conditions we have tomorrow. My car felt quite good this afternoon, but unfortunately I lost one set of tyres when I spun in the Lauda-hander towards the end of the session."
• M. Schumacher: "The most important thing today is that we have managed to improve our car's handling compared to the way it was yesterday. However the car is not yet balanced quite the way. I would like it and it suffers excessively from both overseer and understeer. I used just one se of tyres for the whole session, so considering that others tried new rubber, I don't think we look in too bad shape".

• Marques: "I am much happier today than I was yesterday. We made significant improvements on the car set-up, especially with the suspension. The handling is better, but we still need to correct the understeer to find more grip. The track is getting better each lap."