THE 25 year old French Canadian, Jacques Villeneuve, followed his late father, Gilles, into the history books by scoring his first Grand Prix victory at the Nuerburgring, Germany yesterday.

The Williams Renault driver staved off a titanic challenge from local hero Michael Schumacher, who finished less than a second behind after 90 minutes of hard racing.

Rubens Barrichello of Jordan Peugeot finished fifth after a competitive showings was hampered by two slow pit stops, while Martin Brundle opened his 1996 score sheet with a single point from his sixth place in the second Jordan Peugeot.

Villeneuve led from the start, taking advantage of a fluffed start by his team leader Damon Hill, but although the Canadian held on to the lead all the way to the flag it was far from an easy victory.

"Schumacher seemed to be right behind me for the whole race, said a delighted Villeneuve afterwards. "Especially in the closing laps he was very close. It was a great battle but it was also good fun.

Villeneuve's win - at only his fourth attempt - was especially commendable for the way he withstood the relentless pressure from the crowd's favourite son.

Schumacher was magnanimous after the race: "Jacques drove very well. I did not have enough speed. I could catch him but when I would close up I would lose the downforce. He was very fair and did a good job."

Hill had a torrid day. "I didn't have a good start and then we had a problem in the first pit stop," he said on the way to the helicopter to start his journey back to Dublin last night.

Initially Hill looked like he could claw his way back up through the field - he passed Schumacher before his pit stop debacle, but a poor overtaking manoeuvre sent the championship leader and Pedro Diniz into the gravel. Hill recovered to finish fourth, only feet ahead of Barrichello's Jordan.

Eddie Jordan was disappointed with being the last of the points scorers. "Rubens was competitive all weekend and finished less than 35 seconds behind the winner and less than a second behind third placed Coulthard; but we lost some time in the pit stops and that cost us a lot."

Team manager, John Walton said: "We blew it on Rubens's two stops. We lost eight seconds to Coulthard there. On the first, stop we had the tyres changed before the fuel hose was even engaged."

Martin Brundle made some progress to a return to form by finishing sixth, although as the season progresses he will be under more pressure to match the pace of the confident Barrichello.

If Eddie Jordan felt he had a bad day, he should spare a thought for Eddie Irvine. "It was an awful race," said Irvine, after he climbed from his scarlet Ferrari 10 minutes after the start.

"I had clutch trouble all weekend and made a dire start as a result. Then, after three laps, a misfire developed on one bank of cylinders and I started to go slower and slower. Then (Olivier) Panis tried to pass and we collided. I was retiring anyway, he should have waited."

Irvine also had a misfire on Friday and is hoping the new engine to be used at Imola next weekend will cure the problem.

David Coulthard pleased himself and the Mercedes bosses with his third place finish, and Marlboro McLaren can take solace in the fact that but for two stop go penalties, Mika Hakkinen would have finished in the top three or four.