After Sunday's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve had a few well-chosen words with Jarno Trulli, the 22-year-old Prost driver whom, he believed, had contributed to the ignominious slide into the gravel trap which brought his race to a premature end with 11 laps to go.

The two men were battling for fifth place at the time, so Trulli might have been forgiven for asking what on earth a Williams driver was doing anywhere near him on the track in the first place. It was a question which certainly preoccupied Frank Williams and his colleagues as they surveyed the debris of their worst F1 performance in almost a decade.

Villeneuve qualified ninth, four places behind team-mate Heinz Harald Frentzen, whose race ended in a first corner tangle with Eddie Irvine's Ferrari.

It was the first time a Williams had failed to qualify on the first two rows since the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix, yet this is a highly misleading statistic.

In that race the grid order was determined largely by who was out on the circuit in the two-lap window during which heavy rain eased and conditions dried out. Come the race, both cars were highly competitive. At Hockenheim, both Williams drivers found themselves struggling with an acute handling inconsistency.

"Basically, the balance of our car has not been very good with low wing settings," said Patrick Head, the team's technical director after qualifying. "We've got some ideas as to what's wrong, but not necessarily things we can do here."

After the race, Head just shrugged and smiled. "What can one say?" he mused. "Nothing sensible, certainly."

Not since the 1990 season with Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese as their driver line-up has Britain's top grand prix team displayed such depressing race form.

It even prompted Ross Brawn, the technical director of Ferrari, to speculate that Benetton's victory on Sunday might herald their emergence as a stronger rival to the Italian team over the balance of the season.

"It is looking a bit like we might be fighting with Benetton rather than Williams if they carry on the way they are," he said.

"I don't know why Williams were off the pace this weekend. It is very surprising, but I think it is a minor aberration rather than a trend for the rest of the year. But if we can get our car to the finish line then there is a very good chance of (Ferrari winning) the championship. The performance of our car is adequate to give Michael (Schumacher) a chance."

Williams began the year in fine style with three wins out of the first four races. Villeneuve clearly has all the skill and commitment to develop into a front line star, yet the inconsistencies of his performances demonstrate that his talent is not fully seasoned. This is not surprising as he is only in his second year of F1.

Frentzen, on the other hand, has just been downright disappointing. As quick as anyone when things go right, he lacks the elusive, almost indefinable quality which marks out a great driver from the simply good. F1 insiders are already suggesting that he would be unwise to bank on seeing out his second season with Williams in 1998, contract or no contract.

Late last year Frank Williams acknowledged that he was prepared for the British press to give him a very hard time if his decision to replace Damon Hill with HeinzHarald Frentzen was shown to be a misjudgment. That moment has now surely arrived.

Frentzen has retired from races on five occasions, but also had two races (Brazil and Spain) where poor form simply saw him finish out of the top six, thereby failing to score any championship points. Villeneuve still has more top scores than any other driver with four wins, but Schumacher has supplemented his three victories with a more consistent finishing pattern thanks to the superb mechanical reliability of his Ferrari and the fact that he makes fewer driving errors than any of his rivals.

Ralf Schumacher has pledge to stay with Eddie Jordan's team for the 1998 season. His announcement follows the recent agreement between Jordan and engine supplier Mugen-Honda for next year.

"I signed a two-year contract with Jordan and I am very happy to respect it," Schumacher said in a statement. "Mugen-Honda are one of the best engine suppliers in Formula One and I believe their partnership with Jordan will be very strong. I am very excited about our prospects together."