Motor Racing: Hill restless in quest for enlightenment: Derick Allsop reports from Estoril on a frustrating day of false starts for the Williams drivers anxious to get on track

THERE was assurance, almost a swagger, in every movement of the Williams-Renault team. A swift glance at the other operations along the pit-lane would have been sufficient for the untrained eye to identify this Anglo-French concern as the class act here.

One man at Williams, however, remained restless. There was more he had to explore, more he had to learn about himself and about the car. Damon Hill was reaching for the limits, unashamedly selfish and single-minded in his search.

This is the last major test before the Formula One world championship season begins, in South Africa on 14 March, and he wants to discern how much of a threat he can be to the title favourite, his team-mate, Alain Prost. 'I want to satisfy my own needs now,' he said. 'I'm trying stuff and pushing myself so that I have the database for when we go racing.'

The 32-year-old Englishman, who replaces his countryman and world champion Nigel Mansell at Williams, has two years' experience testing with the best team in the sport, but the benefit of only two grands prix, and those in an uncompetitive Brabham.

His quest for enlightenment was not helped by a series of stoppages yesterday morning, as cars broke down or went off this demanding circuit, the home of the Portuguese Grand Prix. Among those casualties was another Briton, Martin Brundle, who managed to bring his Ligier-Renault to a safe landing after a spindle failed and caused his front right wheel to come adrift.

When at last Hill and his car, carrying the number zero, were able to get to grips with their scheduled endurance programme, they, too, came to grief.

Hill returned the FW15 from its excursion and cut short the stint by two laps. He consulted with his engineers, then said: 'I'm still exploring the limits, trying to find out what I can do. The trouble with testing is that you can get into a rut, going round and round. I was pushing it, but if you step it up too much, this can happen.'

There are many who envy Hill, Prost and Williams the means to keep going round and round. This is a team not so much in a rut as in the groove, and the chances are they will remain too fast and too reliable for the rest this coming season.

The racing will provide Hill with the release he yearns most. 'I just want to get into it now,' he said. 'This winter seems to have lasted 10 years. It can be frustrating going on and on, yet not racing. I'll be glad when we're in South Africa and getting on with it.'

Only then, of course, will he know how good he really is. At least he has the consolation of racing the Williams this year. 'That's the strange thing this time,' he said. 'I've been used to handing it over to someone else, and although it's satisfying to know your work has contributed to the success, it's not the same as having the chance to prove what you can do.

'I've now got that chance and I'm determined to make the most of it. That's why I have to keep looking for improvement. It's a constant process.'

It has not been so constant for Prost, who was off duty for 24 hours with a cold. He felt sufficiently recovered to return to the track yesterday afternoon.

As the Frenchman was settling back into the cockpit, Brundle and his team-mate, Mark Blundell, were calling it a day. Ligier officials decided not to risk further running until they had replaced their batch of spindles.

A philosophical Brundle, who joined the search party which recovered the faulty part, said: 'These things happen in motor racing, even to the best teams. But it was the right decision to stop. No point taking unnecessary risks.'

Prost mustered a handful of laps before he went off into the gravel.

The three-times world champion, who had a big accident here last month, said: 'The throttle stuck and I went straight on.'

Prost admitted that he was concerned about his future but denied he had made a vindictive attack on Fisa's president, Max Mosley, and the governing body's running of Formula One.

Prost's super-licence goes before the world council for reconsideration four days after the first race of the season, next month's South African Grand Prix, and Mosley has warned that the Frenchman could be suspended or even struck off indefinitely for criticising Fisa in an article.

Prost, 38 next week, said: 'I am worried about the situation because I don't know what is going to happen and this is not rational. It is dangerous. It depends what they want to achieve.

'I have always been critical of things I do not agree with, but in a constructive way, for the good of the sport. I have not said things in the way they suggest and it is not personal against Max Mosley.

'I hope it is going to be OK and that it doesn't come to a suspension or anything like that.'

(Photograph omitted)