Damon Hill's prospects of joining McLaren were hanging in the balance yesterday as the Grand Prix teams arrived at SpaFrancorchamps in preparation for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. Negotiations between Hill and the McLaren owner Ron Dennis reached deadlock last week when Dennis offered a retainer for 1998 of no more than $2 million (£1.4 million sterling) plus a bonus system of $1 million per race win.

It is understood that Dennis has tabled similar packages to his current drivers David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen, both of whom also hope to stay with the team. He is also said to be insisting on one-year contracts for 1998, raising speculation that he wants to be free to negotiate if Michael Schumacher should become available at the end of next season.

At present Schumacher has a contract with Ferrari extending through to the end of 1999.

Meanwhile, Hill continued to prove adept at deflecting speculation about his future plans, although he did concede that he hoped to be in a position to make an announcement "sooner rather than later, by which I mean weeks not months."

If the McLaren option is now closing on Hill, the JordanHonda, Sauber-Ferrari and ProstPeugeot teams remain keen to secure his services.

Prost has welcomed back number one driver Olivier Panis, who broke both his legs when he crashed in the Canadian Grand Prix two months ago.

Panis hopes to be fit enough to drive in the last two races of this season and Prost has rewarded his tenacious recovery with a new two-year contract through to the end of 1999.

Guardian Service