Jacques Villeneuve brought the 1998 world championship back to life yesterday with a superbly judged victory in the first Austrian Grand Prix in a decade, at the new A1 ring circuit in Zerltweg.

With three races and 30 points to compete for, he now trails Ferrari's Michael Schumacher - who was lucky to salvage sixth place after a disastrous race - by a single point as the teams move on to the Nurburgring for the Luxembourg Grand Prix this Sunday. That is a track where Villeneuve scored his maiden Formula One victory 16 months ago with a split-second victory over the German driver.

"I made an average start and for the first two laps the tyres were not properly up to temperature, which is why Rubens Barrichello passed me on the first lap," said Villeneuve.

"Once they were warmed up to temperature, I was quicker than him, but I took my time passing him as I did not want to get involved in any wheel banging. It was vital for me to score points today."

Villeneuve took the lead for good after 44 of the race's 71 laps and drove with great restraint and discipline to take the chequered flag 2.9 seconds ahead of the Italian Grand Prix winner David Coulthard. Heinz-Harald Frentzen brought the other Williams home third to consolidate the British team's lead in the constructors' championship.

Schumacher had a bad result for the second successive race. Having qualified his Ferrari a lowly ninth, he battled his way up into the top three and actually led the race for two laps before making his sole refuelling stop on lap 42.

He resumed in third place, but then had to come into the pits for a 10 second stop-go penalty after overtaking Frentzen at the uphill right-hand Remus Kurve when waved yellow flags were being displayed following a collision between Eddie Irvine's Ferrari and the Benetton of Jean Alesi.

In the closing stages he piled on the pressure to overtake Damon Hill's Arrows-Yamaha, but it was too much to expect his brother Ralf, running fifth ahead of him in the Jordan, to relinquish his place in order to hand him another championship point, so he had to be content with sixth.

"Our car was better than expected," said Schumacher. "Our real problem was in qualifying. To start ninth on the grid was very bad and the penalty wiped out any chance of finishing second, which I was sure we could have done. "I didn't see the yellow flag as I was fighting with Frentzen and Berger, who was being lapped."

Villeneuve made a poor start from pole position, dropping to an fourth place from the start as Mika Hakkinen's McLaren Mercedes surged away to take an early lead. Yet the Finnish driver's bad luck was riding with him yet again and as he surged into view at the end of the opening lap he was already pulling his car up on to the grass on the lefthand side of the start/finish straight where he retired immediately with engine failure.

Hakkinen's misfortune allowed the the young Italian Jarno Trulli, driving in only his 14th grand prix, to surge ahead in his Prost Mugen Honda.

Villeneuve eventually whittled down Trulli's advantage, vaulting ahead of the Prost at their refuelling stops. Thereafter, Trulli held on gamely to second place before his Mugen Honda engine expired in a cloud of smoke 13 laps from the chequered flag. This allowed Frentzen through to third place ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan.

Undoubtedly the most disappointing performance came from the only Austrian in the race, Gerhard Berger, who started his Benetton from the pit lane and ended up spinning off into a gravel trap while being lapped by the leaders in the closing stages.

The popular 38-year-old is expected to retire from racing, possibly even before the end of the season. Whether this would be soon enough to earn Jarno Trulli a Benetton drive in next weekend's Luxembourg Grand Prix remains to be seen.

If not, and with Olivier Panis due to make a return to the Prost cockpit at Nurburgring after a successful recovery from two broken legs, Trulli, who was recruited as a stand-in for the injured Frenchman, could be left on the sidelines. After his drive in Austria on Sunday, that would be bitter disappointment indeed.