He trails Ferrari's Michael Schumacher by 24 points and the German was down in seventh place yesterday

He trails Ferrari's Michael Schumacher by 24 points and the German was down in seventh place yesterday.Drawing conclusions from Friday's times is, of course, a hazardous task, and Eddie Irvine's second place for Jaguar is unlikely to repeated in this afternoon's qualifying session or tomorrow's main event.However, Jenson Button, back among the stragglers in his Benetton-Renault, will have devoured the crumbs of comfort that his placing represents. It was three better than his team-mate, Giancarlo Fisichella, produced and it is this domestic contest that could ultimately determine the young Englishman's future.Button has been out-qualified eight times out of nine by the Italian this season, an eclipse that has tested his resolve after his heady maiden season in Formula One with Williams-BMW.Speculation about where he goes from here is rife, some sources suggest he has been offered to Jaguar and a number of other teams. Now there are new kids on the block: Juan Pablo Montoya in his former seat at Williams and Kimi Raikkonen at Sauber. Golden boys have come and gone, and Button knows he is at the mercy of team-principals' whims.However, Button is confident that changes to his car mark the beginning of the next phase in his career and maintains that a return to Williams, scheduled for 2003, is not necessarily critical to his long term prospects.He said: "All the talk about my future doesn't worry me It's typical Formula One. I've spoken to the team about it and everybody tells me I'm staying That's it as far as I'm concerned I'm 100 per cent sure I can beat Fizzy. It's proving tougher than I expected here, but I am sure that we will get stronger in the second half of the season and that the car will be more to my liking They say it's character-building, but they can keep that.

Winning is character-building, and that's what I'm here to do."I'm still confident I will be world champion one day Nothing I've seen has made me change my mind. Ultimately that means beating Michael, and I believe I will be able to do that He's only human But it's not just Michael. I have to beat the rest of them."I have a good relationship with Williams and speak to Frank Williams at every race But going back there is not the be-all and end-all. Our team, which will be Renault next year, may become better than Williams."Coulthard was buoyed by his time yesterday, but acknowledged there was no instant remedy to McLaren's recent slump.

He said: "I am encouraged by our start to the weekend and we are much more upbeat than we were last week at the N?rgring Whether we have the package to get pole, I don't know. But victory is more likely here than it was at the last race.''Schumacher is only two wins short of Alain Prost's grand prix record of 51, and the Frenchman expects the German will soon relieve him of the distinction Prost said: "It is only a matter of time He deserves it. You can't win more than 50 races without being good, and he is the best now and one of the best of all time."FRENCH GRAND PRIX (Magny-Cours) Practice times: 1 D Coulthard (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1min 14.935sec; 2 E Irvine (GB) Jaguar Racing +0.198sec; 3 J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda +0.289; 4 M Hakkinen (Fin) McLaren at 0.437; 5 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW at 0.602; 6 J P Montoya (Col) Williams at 0.647; 7 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari at 0.875; 8 P de la Rosa (Sp) Jaguar at 1.205; 9 J Trulli (It) Jordan-Honda at 1.252; 10 R Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari at 1.390; 11 O Panis (Fr) BAR at 1.429; 12 L Burti (Bra) Prost-Acer at 1.520; 13 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Jordan at 1.933; 14 K Raikkonen (Fin) Sauber-Petronas at 1.971; 15 N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber at 2.076; 16 J Alesi (Fr) Prost at 2.153; 17 J Button (GB) Benetton-Renault at 2.237; 18 J Verstappen (Neth) Arrows-Asiatech at 2.350;19 E Bernoldi (Bra) Arrows at 2.592; 20 G Fisichella (It) Benetton at 2.631; 21 F Alonso (Sp) Minardi-European at 2.931; 22 T Marques (Bra) Minardi at 3.437.. "I'm sick of Wimbledon being on both channels," my eldest daughter exclaimed the other day. It was only day three of this year's Champion-ships, actually, which did not bode well for the household. "I'm sick of Wimbledon being on both channels," my eldest daughter exclaimed the other day.

It was only day three of this year's Champion-ships, actually, which did not bode well for the household. For a moment, I thought her annoyance had to do with not knowing which match to choose – but it was simpler than that. "It means I can't watch Neighbours, I can't watch Superman, I can't watch The Simpsons... I'm sick of it..."Bloody Wimbledon, eh? Sadly for my daughter, the BBC's interactive initiatives in screening this year's event did not encompass travelling beyond the furthest outside court to Ramsey Street, Metropolis or Springfield.If the Wimbledon experience is beginning to impact negatively on the lives of my children, however, it is already exerting its familiar pull over me. As the mid-point approaches, I find myself being drawn into the tournament's swirling emotional current like a plastic duck in a draining bath.It is the same current which draws queues the length of Church Road as Wimbledon's fatalistic pilgrims hope against hope that their infinitesimally slow progress towards the hallowed portal will not be cut short by a blazered figure with a megaphone informing them that they have just wasted their morning Or afternoon Or evening.Some come for Sampras Some for Agassi. Who knows, perhaps some even come for Babsi, alternatively known as Barbara Schett, the 25-year-old deemed – in the mysterious way that such things are determined – to be the sexiest woman player at Wimbledon once a poorly foot had reduced Anna Kournikova to Anna Can'tcomeova. The Austrian was duly adopted by The Mirror for the fortnight (or whatever proportion of it she manages to endure for) as if she were a giant panda in Beijing Zoo.During the green and purple time, the tennis watcher's existence is an intense one – never more so for home followers than when the prospect of a British champion rises into view.It is still a distant one, of course.

But there is no escaping the scenario that, either explicitly or implicitly, stands top of the Wimbledon-watcher's wish list, and that is for Tim Henman to win the men's singles title. If it turned out to be the ex-Canadian, Greg Rusedski, that would be all very nice. But Henman stands as the quintessential home hope, and since he emerged as a player capable of expanding far beyond the traditional role of Great British Loser, no Wimbledon has been allowed to get underway without agonised analysis of his chances.Over the last four or five years, there has almost been a sense that, if British followers hope for this blessed event hard enough, it will somehow come to pass. Personally, I hope he never makes the final, because I don't know if I could take watching him lose it.That's the problem with tennis-spectating. I don't believe anyone can remain neutral about any match, and there are some which – if you let the fluctuating passions and fortunes get to you – will leave you feeling, in John Cooper Clarke's estimable phrase, "like a sucked and spat-out Smartie".