Their obviously stated aim is to win Grands Prix in the short term and World Championships in the longer time frame. Based upon 2002 to date, they are a long way off either challenge and need to bring in radical changes to move up the grid. Some ground has been made up, but Honda now feel they are now at the point now they wanted to be at in pre-season testing. They expect that the truly competitive engine will not be available until the Canadian GP in June.

The problem for Jordan is that Honda have the biggest engine budget in Formula One, estimated to be over $200million a year, and even with that level of funding they still cannot produce a competitive engine.

The word from Tokyo is that changes have to be made. Dave Richards has worked very hard to build on the BAR relationship and it is thought likely that Honda will want to move closer to Jordan’s engine rival, they might even take a large stake in the Brackley-based outfit as BAT’s share becomes available. This would all point to the likely result that the Irish team will be left out in the cold.

Jordan are currently in the second year of a three-year deal, with an option for another two years after that. Nothing is likely to happen in 2002, so BAR have time to cement their relationship further but Honda have admitted that Jordan’s position as a full works team is shaky. F1i.com have reported Takeo Fukui as saying "I cannot deny the fact that we will rethink Jordan's position.
”This is not to say that Jordan will be out of the picture completely, but that it may have to resume a customer role as it had with Mugen-Honda when it won races in 1998 and 1999.

"The relationship Ferrari has with Sauber seems very sound," added Fukui, although he would not confirm Honda was thinking of providing older technology to Jordan as yet.