Jordan announce new driver

[GTRMagic]

Are you naturally #1 driver if you are signed/announced first??

2005 will be a "transition year" for this team, with the new Toyota motors welded to an evolution of the 2004 Cossie chassis... plus a technical team that seems to have run away and joined a (different) circus....

Imagine doing all of that as an F1 rookie... unused to the ways and means of getting a non-bespoke car setup right...

[StickShift]

Autosport seems to think Tiago Monteiro will be set for the second race seat.

Two mediocre rookies + Jordan-Midlands current state = disaster.

[Super Tourer]

I don't think Midland have made any bones about the fact that they are not expecting to do much more than 'show up' this year - hence they won't even put their name to the team - it will be entered as Jordan.

I think we will see a barely revised car and drivers helping to pick up some of the bills.
Smith was talking about hopes for an improvement mid-season with a new car, but now he has gone we can assume the focus is totally on 2006 and the Dallara car.

I agree it's not ideal and their approach in outsourcing the entire car is novel, but we need to judge them on 2006 - this year they are merely picking up the remnants of Jordan and running with it.

[BootsOntheSide]

Nice of them to drag the Jordan name through the mud, isn't it?

[Stephen Green]

I would have thought they (Midland Jordan) would want to do as well as possible this year in order to try and maintain some of the sponsors? It has to be in their interest to achieve as higher goal as possible.

[BSchneiderFan]

Karthikeyan/Monteiro is a bold line-up. I've long thought that Karthikeyan may be very talented but needs taming; I'm less convinced about Monteiro. He was good in the World Series last year, but his Champ Car and F3000 outings were less impressive.

[BootsOntheSide]

Montiero did well in ChampCars. The team came together at the last minute and ran aged Reynards out of another team's shop, yet Tiago still scored consistently, made few mistakes and picked up a frotn row start and a podium, beating Lavin who's currently at Forsythe.

[Super Tourer]

Originally Posted by Stephen Green

I would have thought they (Midland Jordan) would want to do as well as possible this year in order to try and maintain some of the sponsors? It has to be in their interest to achieve as higher goal as possible.

I think the team had so little effective sponsorship on the books (hence EJ had to sell up) that it is not a major consideration. Jordan's 'main' sponsor has always been B&H who have reduced their involvement on a year by year basis. For 2005 the tobacco ban comes in to force in anycase. The rest of the car was made up from small sponsors and the Bahrain 'message' deal that Bernie E (allegedly) arranged for EJ.

When question by Autosport on the teams prospects for 2005, Alex Shnaider responded thus:

Realistically I don't think we will improve much on what was achieved last year. There has not been much done to the car, as we know. Work has only just begun and there are new engines that are supposed to be delivered. There is a lot to do.

but he is hopeful for improvement later in the year, although this was pre Mark Smith leaving I believe.

In the first few races we do not expect to achieve much better results than were achieved last year, but as the season progresses some improvements will be able to be made.

All in all a quiet 'building' year ahead for the team. In terms of sponsors the Midland Group as business interests worldwide, so I am sure they will tapping up suppliers and partners, etc for sponsorship as time goes by.

[x_acto]

Yes... I think this will be a learning year for the whole team.
I think they will do much better in 2006 when the whole team will be more solid.

[downforce]

HURRAH for Indian Motorsport and the boys from Coimbatore!!...if its indeed confirmed that Narain will race for Jordan. However I do have mixed emotions about this 'deal' and Karthikeyan's delivery potential!

Theres no doubt he is the best India can offer at the moment but is it just a Midlands PR excercise for their future Steel Industry interest in the sub-continent and Bernie's 'capture Asia' program?

Also Im a little confused what to make out of Raikkonen's pre F1 fact file vs Karthikeyan's fact file thus far.

Eitherways, Im thrilled for all the Grand Prix fans in India...Go Narain Go!!!!

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

I'd say Narain is more talented than Yoong - he's got reasonable results in every junior series he's entered, and has done lots of F1 miles seemingly without difficulty.

There's no comparison. Karthikeyan handed Yoong his ass in British F3. Narain is on a par with someone like Bernd Schneider or Hideki Noda as far as F1 is concerned, decent enough, a lot better than the likes of Bruni, but there are better drivers out there.

[steve_r]

Any chance of the Minardi's not being on the back row this season?

[JohnSSC]

So the bottom-line is here that Jordan/Midland have NOT annnounced any drivers for this year as of yet. Correct?

So all of this is still simply semi-informed speculation based on the release by Narain's management team.

The potential, then, does seem to exist for a challenger to Minardi's traditional position on the grid.

[Super Tourer]

Originally Posted by ensign14

There's no comparison. Karthikeyan handed Yoong his ass in British F3. Narain is on a par with someone like Bernd Schneider or Hideki Noda as far as F1 is concerned, decent enough, a lot better than the likes of Bruni, but there are better drivers out there.

Let me clarify, I wasn't comparing Karthikeyan and Yoong on talent, but on the fact that they are backed by business in their respective countries as their 'bright hope' and the first drivers to make it to F1.

[Don K]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

So the bottom-line is here that Jordan/Midland have NOT annnounced any drivers for this year as of yet. Correct?

So all of this is still simply semi-informed speculation based on the release by Narain's management team.

I'm not sure about that.

I don't think they can afford to announce it at a press conference unless they either have a signed contract or are very sure that the contract will be signed (and know for sure that Jordan has no objections against their announcement).

[Don K]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Any chance of the Minardis not being on the back row this season?

Well, I guess they *could* go bankrupt during the season ...

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by Super Tourer

Let me clarify, I wasn't comparing Karthikeyan and Yoong on talent, but on the fact that they are backed by business in their respective countries as their 'bright hope' and the first drivers to make it to F1.

OK, gotcha. Will be interesting to see whether this encourages more Indians into F1 - I can see outsourcing being an interesting idea...

[f1_carzy]

Looks like the deal has been signed; atleast NK sounds like that
"I am happy to be part of Team Jordan as I have been waiting for this opportunity since a long time. If all goes well I should be competing in the season opener at Melbourne (Australia) on March 6," Karthikeyan said here today.
"I will be moving my camp to Barcelona (Spain) to test drive and also for practice races before the Melbourne meet on March six," he added.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...of~Formula~One

[Kicking-back]

Mediocre?

I think not.

Having seen some of Karthikeyan's F3 races, he is a talented driver - and at least he has won some races in his career - unlike some recent F1 debutants.

Monteiro did a solid job in ChampCars and has matched the highly-rated Kovalianen in Dallara Nissan from time to time.

In terms of balancing the need to bring sponsorship against driving ability - then Karthikeyan/Monteiro would be a decent line-up - and the benefits of opening F1 to the Indian market are enormous.

[Tweed]

Narain's better than a lot of people have been saying, quite a smart move by Midland.

[minirda]

Good to see there are 5 cars running for the last position this season (including Red Bull's second cat that is). With a chassis no longer developing, it doesn't matter which drivers you put in this seats. I hope this Karthikifella does well.
For a long time I thought Monteiro would drive the second Minardi seat, he was never linked with Jordan before. Quite a surprise if it's true.
It's a dissapointing line up. The worst line up in the history of Jordan. Sad. It will be a dissapointing year. Hopefully the team can make some progress in 2006.

[x_acto]

Originally Posted by minirda

Good to see there are 5 cars running for the last position this season (including Red Bull's second cat that is). With a chassis no longer developing, it doesn't matter which drivers you put in this seats. I hope this Karthikifella does well.
For a long time I thought Monteiro would drive the second Minardi seat, he was never linked with Jordan before. Quite a surprise if it's true.
It's a dissapointing line up. The worst line up in the history of Jordan. Sad. It will be a dissapointing year. Hopefully the team can make some progress in 2006.

How can you say it's the worst line up in the history of Jordan? Did they already run? I don't think so...

[BSchneiderFan]

And, with respect, I think it has at least the promise of Modena/Gugelmin.

[Kicking-back]

or even Gachot/de Cesaris - despite Andrea's experience.

[BootsOntheSide]

Modena and Gugelmin had both achieved a lot more than the main Jordan contenders are likely to get. Remember that both had scored podiums in F1, and Modena was a F3000 champion, not to mention that he put a Tyrrell on the front row at Monaco.