Britain’s Hill Wins Third Formula One Race in Row

Britain’s Damon Hill cruised to his third consecutive Formula One victory of the season in the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires on Sunday, beating Canadian teammate Jacques Villeneuve by more than 12 seconds.

In an action-packed day in which only 10 drivers finished the race, world champion Michael Schumacher of Germany was forced out on the 46th lap after his Ferrari suffered damage to the back wing. He claimed after the race that his car had been hit by an object flying off Hill’s Renault.

The victory for Hill, whose Williams-Renault led the field from start to finish, was the 16th of his Formula One career, matching that of Britain’s Jackie Stewart. He finished the 72 laps in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 55.322 seconds.

Benetton’s Jean Alesi of France finished third, 14.8 seconds behind Hill, who said he was unaware that a part from his car had allegedly hit Schumacher’s.

The race, held under sunny skies, was marred by a series of accidents after a clean start in which cars jockeyed for position. Drivers said the track proved more slippery than expected.

Brazil’s Pedro Diniz had to dive out of his Ligier-Honda as it burst into flames during the 29th lap.

Diniz steered onto the trackside grass and managed to jump from the car and run to safety. It was not immediately clear whether he suffered any injury.

Shortly before, a safety car entered the circuit after Italy’s Luca Badoer spun off the track and overturned. The driver crawled from the Forti-Ford, seemingly unhurt.

In the 33rd lap, Brazil’s Tarso Marques, in a Minardi-Ford, ran into the rear of Briton Martin Brundle’s Jordan-Peugeot and spun off the track to a stop. Brundle drove into the pits and both drivers were out of the race.

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Tommi Makinen survived a flat tire and a flash flood to win Kenya’s three-day Safari Rally, the world tour’s roughest and fastest rally.

Makinen traded leads three times with Kenneth Eriksson, who struggled with mechanical problems, on the last leg of the 1,743-mile race that ended in Nairobi.