Britain's 1996 Formula One world champion Damon Hill could well call it a day before his projected retirement date of October 31st his team boss, Eddie Jordan, revealed yesterday.

The 38-year-old, who has won 22 Grand Prix, 21 of them with the Williams team, announced earlier in the week that he would retire after the Japanese Grand Prix, but Jordan suggested that he would go if he thought it was in the best interests of his team.

Hill, who left Williams after winning the championship and pitched up for a lucrative if disastrous year-long campaign at Arrows before joining Jordan, has failed to finish in four of the first six races this season and may decide he is unable to achieve his goal of helping Jordan finish in the top three of the constructors' championship.

Hill claimed Jordan's first ever Grand Prix win, in Belgium last year, since they started competing in 1991 but his lack of form this season has laid all the burden on German driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jordan is desperate to maintain the progress that saw them finish an excellent fourth in last year's constructors' championship.

"We do have a contract and Jordan is not in the business of breaching contracts and neither, I'm sure, is Damon," Jordan said. "But if Damon did decide if things didn't work out at some future time, such as after the British Grand Prix for instance, and said: `Look Eddie, I'm not helping the team as much as I'd want to', I think he would stand down.

"He is not afraid of things like this. He is a very pragmatic man and he clearly understands the importance of the team doing well.

"He has pledged to his fans and to the Jordan team that he wants Jordan to finish in the top three of the world championship this year and I think he will do whatever is required to achieve that.

"If that means stopping, that's a possibility. I hope not because clearly there are not that many other drivers of his calibre available at the moment."