Mixed weekend for Jordan

Strong showing
By Phil Giles
July 20 2003

Jordan ended their home race with one retirement and one car in 13th position. Giancarlo Fisichella was the unlucky recipient of the DNF, however Ralph Firman drove a strong race to bring the car home.

The race was quite probably one of the best Grand Prix I have ever watched and quite honestly, with a race like that you have to wonder why Bernie seems so determined to get shot of it.

Two safety cars and Fisi's rather bouncy exit were just two of the highlights of the best Grand Prix of the season so far.  A broken rear suspension wishbone was the cause of Fisi's exit from the race, the Italian, with just three wheels on his wagon managed to get the car home but with no option other than to drive straight into the Garage.

Ralph Firman competing in his first British Grand Prix, in front of his home crowd was happy with the car but felt that the car should be a bit quicker.  "The team made a really good call with the first pit stop and we're were up there in points positions for a while." He said.  "Obviously it was a shame not to score any points at the end but we need to be a bit quicker. The car had oversteer during the second stint but it was much better and very consistent for the last stint. All in all, it was quite a good first British Grand Prix so I'm pretty happy."

"It should be very satisfying for Ralph to finish with a good drive in his first home Grand Prix" said Eddie J.  "It was a slightly more encouraging race for us than the last few which gives a bit more motivation with our push to improve performance. And well done, Rubens."

Giancarlo, despite crashing out was more positive about his weekend than of late.  "The race wasn't too bad today. I was up there fighting, the pace wasn't bad, the car balance felt good, and we had slightly better grip, although we still need more." He said.  "I had to retire when something broke, I think the right rear suspension failed. I'm disappointed that it's another race I haven't finished due to reliability issues but it's positive that we were better with our pace."

Gary Anderson seems satisfied with the weekends work.  "I think that was a good race for punters and TV - it was a spectacle. Our only drama was when Giancarlo had a right rear suspension failure - it was a low mileage component so we'll have to look into why it failed. We tried everything we could with the safety car to help our position, but having taken advantage of the first time it came out, the second time probably didn't do any good for Ralph, and it equalised itself out between all the cars. We were running all right in the race when we got into it and if we had qualified a bit better, we may have been able to get some points. So we should take some encouragement and keep working at it."

A far better race from the team showing that they have put a lot of effort into the EJ13. The car still suffers with balance and power but the team know where the faults lie and are making efforts to rectify them.  Jordan Fans have a lot to feel optimistic about the future and the remaining six races may bring further improvements that will inevitably bring further points to the team.