Just because he doesn’t have a sign on his head saying ‘watch out, I am tough’ doesn’t mean to say he doesn’t have what it takes.”I believe Mika is now better than [Schumacher] I know I’m biased but he is the all-round package He has the speed and makes fewer mistakes. He will always fight hard but fair and he refuses to be intimidated He’s proved he can win races by being a gentleman. He maintains the ethics the drivers had in my day.”The McLaren may be the best car but Mika has helped develop it. It’s up to Schumacher to help his team make their car go better.”Schumacher remains, for public consumption at least, defiant in the face of Hakkinen’s seemingly irresistible resurgence. “It is an important race for us, but even after it the championship is not finished. “Jaguar have confirmed that the 25-year-old Brazilian, Luciano Burti, is to replace Johnny Herbert as partner to Irvine next season. Burti has graduated from test driving duty on the strength of his consistent performances and impressive showing when he stood in for Irvine at short notice for the Austrian Grand Prix.Sparring on the track may be the main event but exchanges at boardroom level continue to run as a side show on the Formula One tour.

Max Mosley, the president of FIA, the sport’s governing body, has responded to rumblings of discontent about his powers by playing the malcontents at their own game.Mosley has written to the teams informing them that Frank Williams and McLaren’s principal, Ron Dennis, are agitating against him. He counters by stating Dennis does not appreciate what his position entails and that if he is so dissatisfied he should consider organising his own championship. This latest episode of the high-octane Coronation Street is likely to merely reinforce Mosley’s position and he has announced his intention to stand for re-election next year.. Wakefield Trinity’s last two games of the Super League season are in doubt following drastic measures to cut costs at the debt-ridden club. Trinity went into a Company Voluntary Agreement yesterday as they continued to struggle against debts estimated at £1.5m. They then terminated the contracts of all their players over the age of 24 – for whom they cannot collect transfer fees – although they are appealing to them to play in the final fixtures, at home to Warrington on Sunday and at Castleford next weekend, on reduced terms.

Wakefield Trinity’s last two games of the Super League season are in doubt following drastic measures to cut costs at the debt-ridden club. Trinity went into a Company Voluntary Agreement yesterday as they continued to struggle against debts estimated at £1.5m. They then terminated the contracts of all their players over the age of 24 – for whom they cannot collect transfer fees – although they are appealing to them to play in the final fixtures, at home to Warrington on Sunday and at Castleford next weekend, on reduced terms.
If they agree, it will be without their coach, Tony Kemp. He was due to leave at the end of the season in any event, but resigned yesterday in protest “I’m very dismayed by what the club has done,” he said.