I spent the first three races going backwards

BRITISH race ace Damon Hill last night told the Sunday Mirror: "If I lose my motivation - I quit!"

Disenchanted Hill, the struggling 1996 world champion, has talked for the first time about retiring from motor-racing.

Hill insists he is still as good as any other Formula One driver in the pit lane - despite suffering a second season of woe.

Serious questions have already been asked about the depth of Hill's desire to succeed after failing to pick up a championship point for his new Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda.

And Hill knows only too painfully well that he will struggle to be a big-time winner at today's Monaco Grand Prix - a race his street- wise father Graham won five times. But he insists: "I WILL win races again.

"I never considered it would be easy at Jordan, or that it would be an overnight success.

"I am a realist. I don't get despondent or down-hearted - if I did it would only last for a short period."

Multi-millionaire Hill loves playing the devoted-father role with Oliver, Joshua, Tabatha and Rosie at his luxury mansion overlooking Dublin Bay.

And he finds it hard to leave his wife Georgie and family every other week to do testing or attend race meetings.

He's 38 now and already planning for a less dangerous career away from Grand Prix racing once he's past the 40 mark.

Says Hill: "Having four children doesn't make it any easier going away - but I'm luckier than most people really because when I am at home I get a lot of prime time with them. I don't want to miss too much of them growing up because I know what it is like from personal experience."

Hill, no doubt, is still scarred by his childhood upbringing where his double world champion dad Graham was always away racing until he met his tragic death in a light-aircraft crash.

"There is the family to consider, but it doesn't affect my concentration at the moment," added Hill.

"I am very lucky because I have two things that I love - my family and my work, and they complement each other."

Hill, winner of 21 races, has scored just seven points from 22 races since storming to the 1996 world championship in a Williams Renault.

And he was embarrassed last season after agreeing to take the drive in what proved an uncompetitive Arrows.

After a Silverstone dressing-down from Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw, Hill scored a sixth place at his home Grand Prix and then grabbed second position in Hungary but those were his only sniffs of success in 1997.

He t'urned down a drive in the all- conquering McLaren Mercedes this season to race for Jordan on a pounds 10million two-year contract.

Hill agrees it has so far not been a season to remember: "I spent the first three races going backwards."

Down to 15th on the grid after yesterday's qualifying, he says: "Realistically we are not going to be in contention for the championship - but we will be in contention to win some races if we can carry on making progress."

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