Hill retirement saga continues

The ex-champion drove into the pits saying he was not confident about the car's brakes having earlier in the weekend admitting, 'perhaps I am just getting too old.'

Hill is known to be very unhappy with the new system Jordan use on high-speed braking circuits - which his team-mate likes - but that does not entirely explain his lacklustre performance or why the gentleman racer elbowed a BBC journalist aside in a fit of temper after the race.

Later he apologised through his friend Peter Boutwood. Hill's race lasted just 14 laps.

'I nearly went into the back of Wurz a couple of times - I just could not stop the car. It was impossible for me to carry on because my braking foot had gone dead,' said Hill after the race.

'But that's what happens when things are going badly - everything starts to go wrong.'

Hill's retirement plans have been an on-off saga since mid-June. He announced after the race in Canada he would quit at the end of the season but in France said he may have competed for the last time.

Then a finish in the points at his home race in Silverstone persuaded him to carry on to the end of the year.

Asked after qualifying why he had only managed to qualify eighth, a full second on his teammate, Hill said, 'I just couldn't put the laps together.

'Maybe I am just getting too old. When you're younger you do things instinctively, and you lose it as you get older. The instinctual things are happening less and less.

'Age is the only thing you can put it down to.

'I know when I was racing bikes there were things instinctively and then when I was in the early stages of my car career there were things I did instinctively but not now.

'I still thrive on the pressure. I got my best result at Silverstone under-pressure but I just don't need that kind of pressure anymore. I'm just too old.'