Hill holds slim advantage over Canadian challenger

Jacques Villeneuve, the Canadian driver, continued his impressive debut in the Williams Formula One car yesterday when he lapped Silverstone little more than half a second slower than the team leader, Britain's Damon Hill.

Hill, reportedly under pressure at Williams following his spin and premature exit at the start of the second lap in Sunday's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1min 29.74sec. However, Villeneuve was only slightly adrift with 1:30.32.

Villeneuve, who leads the American IndyCar championship in only his second season in the series, has performed better than had been expected in the Williams, and now looks highly likely to be signed by one of the leading Formula One teams for next season.

Current speculation suggests that he may replace David Coulthard at Williams as a new team-mate for Hill, with the Scot moving on to McLaren.

The 24-year-old Villeneuve is the son of the former Grand Prix driver Gilles Villeneuve, who was killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.