TWO races, one spectacular retirement, one lacklustre ninth place - nil points. That is the less than overpowering 1997 grand prix scoresheet of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the man from Monchengladbach, who some Formula One insiders claim is the equal or better than his countryman, Michael Schumacher.

The German's tally would hardly prompt examination if he was driving a Minardi or Tyrrell but Frentzen occupies the coveted cockpit of car No.4, the Williams-Renault FW19, all but identical to that driven to victory in Brazil by team-mate Jacques Villeneuve.

There is no hiding place in modern, publicity-saturated grand prix racing and the undertaker's son has made the journey from Europe to Argentina well aware that the cogno- scenti's tongues are wagging and the fingers beginning to point.

Two duff races should not destroy a career but Frentzen's arrival at Williams, where he deposed the outgoing world champion Damon Hill, were accompanied by great expectations.

Not only did the media relish a head-to-head between the two former Mercedes junior sports car team graduates but Frank Williams had wanted the German on his payroll for a long time. It was only his commendable ethics and loyalty which kept Frentzen in the Swiss-based Sauber team during F1 racing's year of trauma in 1994.

Frentzen was Williams' first choice to drive the second Williams after Ayrton Senna's death on May 1 that year, but he refused to abandon Willi Sauber's close-knit organisation after Karl Wendlinger lay comatose following a qualifying crash at Monaco.

If the shrewd Williams rated Frentzen, so ran the logic, the as yet unfulfilled driver must be something special. The deal to dump Hill, champion or not, was done well before the announcement last summer.

In this year's opening Australian race, an exploding brake disc pitched him into retirement, but Villeneuve had been a stunning 1.7sec quicker in qualifying. Equally, Frentzen seemed unable to match his racecraft to the Williams' superiority.

Villeneuve had been eliminated in the first-corner Melbourne fracas and both drivers arrived in Brazil on nominally equal terms.

Only eighth on the Inter-lagos grid after failing to find an optimum set-up for his car, Frentzen was swamped by the midfield and ended up sepa-rated from championship points by men in allegedly inferior machinery: England's Johnny Herbert, and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella.

Within Williams, a far less chummy environment than Sauber, there are dark mutterings about their highly touted recruit not providing accurate enough technical feedback and guidance, vital to good qualifying times, and a subsequently competitive race trim.

This weekend will tell if a quiet word from Williams' technical director Patrick Head will make a difference in a team where patience is finite and Frentzen is expected to keep his French-Canadian team-mate honest.

Only the naive thought Frentzen would stride into the Williams team and take over where Hill involuntarily left off.

Villeneuve, in common with Michael Schumacher, and Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost before them, knows the importance of drawing the technicians and mechanics round them.

Villeneuve's rapport with race engineer Jock Clear is almost telepathic and his attention to detail borders on the fanatical.

According to those with experience of the two Germans, Schumacher is an expert at motivating colleagues, lifting the team during difficult times.

Frentzen needs a comfort zone of constant reassurance in which to thrive.

Their rivalry, which is a well-nurtured legend among the German media, started in 1981 at the Kerpen kart track, with Schumacher and Frentzen aged 12 and 14 respectively.

Schumacher was on pole and outdragged his rival, who later whistled past to win the race.

Eight years on they tied for second place in the German Formula 3 series, behind Wend- linger, the trio forming Mercedes' first junior team in world championship sports racing.

Mercedes insiders pointed to a differing approach then, with Schumacher the analytical, totally self-believing racer while instinctive Frenzen was often as fast but did not understand why he was rapid.

Whereas Schumacher stayed with the Silver Arrows team, Frentzen wasted valuable time in the volatile European F3000 championship, struggling to score three points and finish sixteenth during 1991.

While Schumacher vaulted into F1 at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix via the fledgling Jordan team, Frentzen was exiled in Japan as a journeyman F3000 driver during 1992 and 1993.

Insult and injury had already combined with Frentzen's long-time girlfriend Corinna, now Mrs Schumacher, setting up home with Michael, and his sponsor, Camel cigarettes, switching to Benetton, who snatched Schumacher from Jordan.

Willi Sauber, who had run the Mercedes racing organisation and used their engines in his grand prix team, brought ''the other German'' back from the oriental backwater and into the mainstream F1 competition for 1994.

Countryman Jochen Mass, former McLaren grand prix winner, and current TV commentator, believes Frentzen has the pace and ability but lacks the intense focus required to excel, a short- coming not helped by a retinue of advisers.

Frentzen can give the impression of being dour and introspective but friends point to a droll and sharp sense of humour.

Half Spanish on his mother's side, his Latin self flares occasionally, as demonstrated when he threw away last year's Monaco Grand Prix by running into the back of Eddie Irvine's Ferrari when a tactical pit stop would have been the correct move.

To date, Frentzen has garnered a scant 29 points from 50 grands prix, with third place at the Italian Grand Prix last year his career best.

For the Bavarian who transported his kart to races in the back of the family hearse, but has recently bought a Citation executive jet, the pressure of life at Williams is self-evident.

He said: ''The higher you go the thinner the air becomes, I accept that.''

Unless things change soon, he could require oxygen to breathe life into a potentially faltering career.