HILL BREEZES TO FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN

By Nicholas Frankl

Britain's Damon Hill won this afternoon's Argentinean Grand Prix in convincing and unruffled style, completing the 72 laps in 1h, 54minutes. The Williams No1 found little to complain about a race which saw incidents littering the rest of the field and his rivals languishing in the wake of the World Championship favourite.

"It's been great day, a fantastic result, it can't get better than this with three wins out of three," Hill said. "This is great for the team. This shows the force we have this season. I am very, very happy."

In the post-race press conference a beaming and clearly delighted Hill expressed his thoughts on the rest of the season, only too aware that up until his forced retirement, allegedly caused by an item flying off his Renault powered car and damaging the rear wing of the pursuing World Champion Michael Schumacher, the Ferrari had been right on the gearbox of the Williams. He would not comment on the allegation, but was concerned at the way the track marshals had failed to operate effectively.

" I came round the corner and saw a car on it's roof, but there didn't seem to be any assistance for the driver," said Hill, commenting on Luca Badoer's accident which resulted from him spinning off the track and flipping his Minardi car.

This incident on the 27th lap brought out the pace car and allowed the field to close up on the leaders, Jaques Villeneuve benefiting in particular as his 46 second deficit, due to a poor start, was reduced to nil. It was rather disappointing that little advantage was taken of the available bunching, this a testament more to the track's impossible passing opportunities and limited grip, rather than sleepy drivers.

Almost immediately after racing had resumed Pedro Diniz was forced to dive from his burning Ligier which had suffered an engine failure and burst spectacularly into flames. The young Brazilian was fortunate to escape unhurt from the most frightening fireball since the Hockenhiem pit lane fire 2 years ago. He was, however, not the only one unable to run the distance, as driver and mechanical errors took their toll, leaving just 10 cars to cross the line as the chequered flag dropped.

As in Brazil, Hill was never really challenged by anything more dangerous than a stomach upset and his own psyche, which must now be playing statistical games with his ever increasing tally of GP wins of 16- now equal to Jackie Stewart. How long this domination can continue is unclear. One would hope that as the "real" season begins in Europe on April 28th, the teams will now be able to reassess their situations and make the vital steps needed to secure themselves more prominent qualifying and finish positions. No one needs this more than Ferrari and McLaren who, despite signs of promise, have failed to deliver the required threat in the first three rounds of the Championship. But Formula One needs it too. For a one make Championship is no Championship at all and forgetting what the history books might record, few, including Hill himself, would be satisfied with a straight win wrapped up by mid-season a la Mansell in '92.

There'll be some head scratching going on in the Woking and Maranello workshops over the next three weeks, lets hope we all see the results at the Nurburgring.