Jordan's next move

[Valve Bounce]

Eddie is not used to being a tail end runner, but his financial resources are very restrained. He is still hoping to get Mercedes engines at half the price of the Cosworths for next season but the Jordan is tied to Ford for the next two years, so this has to be sorted first. It is understood that Mercedes will want Eddie to hire a German driver, namely Heidfeld, and we might know the outcome before Monza.

[jet]

If they can close the deal with mercedes and Heidfeld is going to drive for them.
What will happen to Firman can he stay or not.
Because he don't bring a lot of sponsor money.

[Super Tourer]

I think Jordan has rapidly lost credibility as a team. It's underfunded, the car is slow and unreliable and has pitched it's drivers off the road several times through mechanical failures - all in all not a great recipe for success and some way short of EJ's bullish pre-season predictions.

It may well be that EJ's bleat for cost cutting might not get the same reception, he threw an alledged £3M away on a pointless court case, money it's fair to say should have very obviously been spent on this years car.

I can only see a Minardi like hand to mouth exisitence for Jordan in the future, losing Fizzi was the final chapter in turning Jordan from a team that hired and paid top line drivers - to a pay driver team.

IMO EJ needs to stand back, not read his own PR and look at where the team is going. They seem to lurch from one poor decision to another, starting with the sacking of HHF on the eve of the German GP ( whilst having a German company as their main sponsor...), through to the bungled Ford announcent last year, upto the disasterous Vodafone case, the stinging words from the judge must still be ringing in EJ's ears !

Sad but true.

[Attila]

In Hungary Eddie Jordan said that if Zsolt Baumgartner can get the neccessary bacing (according to the press it is $10 Million) for next year he could get a drive with the team. Of course he said that alongside Firman so maybe if he gets the Merc engines he will keep Firman because of Benson and Hedges.

[jetsetter]

If Jordan are going to have to rely on pay drivers they are consigned to fighting with Minardi for a long time.

[Rocktracer]

the memories of Having Hill and Schumacher racing each other in spa, TGF's debut and Fisi's lucky win in Brazil..

seem very distant!!

[darcym]

The sad thing is the bull Eddie talks and sets himself up for. For someone with a "good business head" he has made some foul ups of late.

1.) the sacking of Frenzten, HHF was doing ok - there was a German Sponsor on board, and it was the German GP surley Eddie could see the impact this would have both on the teams ablity and stablity and from a financial point of view.

2.) The Honda deal, Eddie went chasing after Honda knowing that BAR where always going to be the number 1 team and sooner or later Honda would choose BAR

3.) He rushed into a "works" ford deal (a paying works deal ???) and signed for 3 years..... he know wants out because he has found a cheaper deal - Tough luck you signed for 3 years you can't just pull out without financial penelty. If you didn't have the cash to commit to 3 years - sign a 1 year or a 2 year. Its not wonder contracts are worthless in F1 at the moment

4.) Signing Ralph He's trying hard but in a season where you need every point you can get surley someone with F1 expereince (no matter how poor) and a wad of cash behind them would have been better, someone in the Diniz style ?

5.) The court case....what was that all about - no idea but it did cost a lot of money, make jordan look bad, and scare other potential sponsors off, apparantly if you wink at Jordan on the street in his eyes that means you have a multi million pound deal signed. No Sponsor will ever hold talks again with Jordan after this.

[BootsOntheSide]

Not sure I agree with you on much there dary.

It's amazing how much misinformation has spread about Frentzen's departure. Eddie ada already decided he wanted to change the team lineup after Hockenheim,a dn offered Frentzen the chance to do that race - it was heinz-Harald who refused.

Signing Ralph showed the world that Jordan were still keen to bring talented young drivers through,a dn weren't going to depend on paydrivers. Besides, only Bernoldi really fits the description, and he's largely unproven.

Eddie had been consistantly achieving better resutls than BAR using the semi-works Mugen-Honda engines. He had every right to expect decent backing from Honda, especially when he signed Sato.

If the Jordan-Ford deal is torn up, it oculd be an advantage to Ford, ebcause they won't have to supply those engines, and can concentrate the efforts on the treliability of their own engine, whcih is clearly a weak link.

[BertMk2]

It has to be said that a potential driver lineup of Firman and Baumgartner for next year doesn't bode well does it? EJ should really try and get Heidfeld on board, he's got the experience and the talent required. Although if the car doesn't improve it won't make any difference who's at the wheel.

[Super Tourer]

Boots

I think Ford are actually reliant on the engine deals to fund part of their Jaguar campaign. It's rumoured that due to mounting losses Ford are looking to cut their spend on Jaguar F1 by 10%, making revenue from the Cosworth engine deals even more valuable.

Ford are possibly the only manufacturer that look upon customer deals as a revenue stream, as opposed to a nuisance which is how most of the other car makers (Ferrari aside) probably view it.

[Stephen Green]

And there was me thinking the start of Jordan's downward spiral began when Mike Gascoine left for Renault. You need a good car before ANY driver can flatter it with their driving skills.

[Redlake27]

Jordans next move? He will announce at Monza that Michael Schumacher will drive a Mercedes engined car when his Ferrari contract expires, because he read in Autosport back in 1991 that Michael promised to repay Mercedes for their support one day. Under Irish law he believes this is a binding contract.

All the tabloids run the story, and Eddie and his team of GCSE law students spend the next 18 months in court.

[ralf fan]

Jordon's next move? beg for Merc engines and hope the rest of the problems take care of itself

[Adam43]

Boots I generally agree with you. Everything most people are saying is probably more a little contributing factor rather than the reason.

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
It's amazing how much misinformation has spread about Frentzen's departure.

You are probably right, there is no way we can know it all. However you can blame Frenzten for wanting out if he knew he had just one race left.

Signing Ralph showed the world that Jordan were still keen to bring talented young drivers through,a dn weren't going to depend on paydrivers.

Yes, but I don't think Eddie was out of pocket over Ralph. Like all these things it probably helped with the sponsors. Not pay driver as such, but gained money for Jordan (although practically every driver on the grid achieves this to a certain extent).

A few years ago Jordan was achieveing a lot despite (perhaps that is harsh) it's engine, but in these matters I don't think they could ever expect a right to a works Honda deal. Although on some levels it is odd that Honda didn't.

[Raven]

Heidfeld will probably end up in Fisi's seat next year as we know he's off to Sauber.

And I've heard EJ is keen on putting Bjorn Wirdheim in the other seat.

[jonathanc]

I think EJ should concentrate on the mercedes/mclaren possibilities. With Max M pushing for manufacturers to sell engines to multiple teams and teams to sell chassis, then jordan could do alot worse than buying out the ford contract, taking on merc engines and this/last years mclaren chassis.

Costs would be seriously reduced, and team performance would be improved no end. Its a win for merc and mclaren in that they keep the powers that be happy and get tons of test data to use.

I think running junior teams is a very good idea. Why not have a grid of 28 cars?

Lets wait see what happens, as I bet it will all be announced by Suzuka.

[Stephen Green]

28 cars is a non starter (excuse the pun) as F1 is governed to 24 cars maximum.

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by Redlake27
Jordans next move? He will announce at Monza that Michael Schumacher will drive a Mercedes engined car when his Ferrari contract expires, because he read in Autosport back in 1991 that Michael promised to repay Mercedes for their support one day. Under Irish law he believes this is a binding contract.

All the tabloids run the story, and Eddie and his team of GCSE law students spend the next 18 months in court.

So close to the truth as we know it... hilarious

[Knowlesy]

Originally posted by Redlake27
Jordans next move? He will announce at Monza that Michael Schumacher will drive a Mercedes engined car when his Ferrari contract expires, because he read in Autosport back in 1991 that Michael promised to repay Mercedes for their support one day. Under Irish law he believes this is a binding contract.

All the tabloids run the story, and Eddie and his team of GCSE law students spend the next 18 months in court.

Absolutely classic!