The team had high hopes after two race wins and third place in the Constructors' Championship in 1999, but 2000 saw reliability problems hit the team hard.

Frentzen who suffered the indignity of nine retirements last season is pinning his hopes on the arrival of Honda works engine for 2001 saying, "We have gained a lot of experience and have made a lot of improvements to the car, which might not have always have been visible.

"Psychologically, nothing is wrong with Jordan," Frentzen explained. "It looks like we have taken a step backwards, but we have just been unlucky.
"We have the Honda engine in 2001, which is great, and that has made the whole team very motivated for next year."

The hard, and incredibly important, work starts as early as is allowed in December in Jerez with the team’s new third driver Ricardo Zonta starting the testing of a 2000/2001 hybrid chassis with many of the components for next year’s car being tried out.

However, the integration of the Honda engine is going to be the most important consideration. There are always going to be initial problems introducing a new engine into what will basically be an evolution chassis and Jordan can only hope to get the biggest issues out of the way as soon as possible.
And then get onto the serious business of improving that awful reliability and finding greater speed.

JEREZ
 5TH - Ricardo Zonta
 6TH - Ricardo Zonta - Jarno Trulli
 7TH - Ricardo Zonta - Jarno Trulli

VALENCIA
 13TH - Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Ricardo Zonta
 14TH - Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Ricardo Zonta
 15TH - Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Ricardo Zonta

BARCELONA
 18TH - Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Jarno Trulli
 19TH - Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Jarno Trulli
 20TH - Jarno Trulli

"It is a huge opportunity for us. We have won some races in the past but we have never been a major contender for a championship. But this Honda connection will make it happen. I am sure of that. The union with Honda through Mugen is already strong and I am optimistic about becoming champions".

He admitted that in spite of his usual optimism, it may take up to three years to achieve, but he is confident that it will eventually become reality.
"We've got unbelievable expectations for next year. We intend to be a major force in the future and the Honda deal is the biggest thing for me in my 30 years in motorsport. We start on an even playing field with Ferrari and McLaren and we want to match them if it is possible."

In spite of this Heinz-Harald feels they did the right thing and that they had to take risks. “We proved the potential in 1999, but there was room for improvement,” he said in Autosport magazine. “For example, our gearbox was some 20kg too heavy in 1999 and the new car was substantially lighter. The decision to push too far was correct.
“Many of the failures were not our fault but involved parts we did not build. It is tough to prevent that.”

Performance-wise, the German believes the EJ10’s main weakness was its aerodynamics, even though the team brought out a revised ‘B’ version of the car for the final races of the season.
“In 1999 we had a car which was excellent on certain tracks but not very impressive on others,” he said. “The goal was to build a car which was competitive on all sorts of circuits. We failed. On certain tracks we were even worse than in 1999.”

Despite technical director Mike Gascoyne leaving the team to head Benetton’s design department, Frentzen believes that Jordan will learn lessons from its season and come back stronger in 2001.
“With Honda we will grow immensely and I think that we can drive with the aim of victories again,” he said

For the 2001 season Jordan will move from being supplied by Mugen, who have supplied the Irish team for the last three years, to the full works engines of sister company, Honda.

It had been thought likely that Honda would use the existing Mugen resource to provide technical support to Jordan, but this has been denied. “Nothing has been finalised at the moment, but Mugen will not be involved at all next year.
“Mugen and Honda are different companies with different criteria and Honda’s aim next year is to supply Jordan and BAR with the same engines.”

Q: What training have you undertaken in advance of the event and will the demands of Formula One have helped you prepare for the marathon?
A: Usually I do a lot of gym work anyway. I have always enjoyed going to the gym and that has helped me to prepare for the run, but I have also done a lot of running and circuit work. Of course being in Formula One you have to be fit anyway, but I am very cautious about my fitness. I have been preparing myself well and doing a lot of exercises to keep me in shape.

Q: Looking back at the Formula One season, you did not have the best season in your first year with Jordan. How disappointing was that?
A: I think without a doubt it has been a very disappointing year for me and the Jordan team because of the high expectations that were surrounding us since the beginning of the season. I still believe, however, that we as a team have so much potential and so does the car. But I feel, at the end of the day, we were let down by reliability problems at the start of the season which didn't serve us too well. We also suffered a bit of bad luck, which meant that we didn't get the results we needed. But there have been some pleasing moments for us. I was pleased to get on the front row on two occasions and we ended up being the only team to split the Ferrari and McLaren team on the front row of the grid, so that was extremely pleasing.

Q: You have another year with the team. Will the Honda engine deal help you, and the team, overcome the disappointment of 2000?
A: I believe that the Honda deal will be key to the success of Jordan next season, and that they will be a big boost to the team. They are big on success and they will be working closely with us to hopefully enable us to build a bigger and better team and take us to victory next season.

Q: Regarding your future, where do you see that lying? Would you like to stay at Jordan or is it out of your hands where you will be going?
A: For next year I am happy being at Jordan, they are a great team with big potential but as for the future I will be looking at that at a later date. I enjoy driving for the team and I'm actively looking forward to the 2001 season because of the new engine, which I believe will enhance our chances of a better season.

He successfully completed the 25th running of the New York marathon on Sunday afternoon, in a time of 4:02.21 a little under 2 hours behind the race winner Moroccan Abdelkhader El Mouaziz, who finished in a time of 2:10:08.

The Jordan driver's time of just over four hours was a respectable effort considering the amount of preparation the 26 year-old Italian has been able to undertake during the Formula One season. He was just outside his target time of four hours, however.
His position of 10,230th compares favourably amongst the more than thirty thousand entrants who pounded the streets on a bright a sunny day in New York, the last of whom crossed the finish line some 8 hours behind the eventual race winner.

His placing among his age group, though, was considerably higher at 1,070th , while he ended in 8,775th place out of all the men competing in the race.

"I've always wanted to participate in something like this," he said. "I have always been keen to participate in the London marathon but it clashes with the F1 season so it is hard for me to do that. It is something I have been thinking about for a while and it is free to run so I thought why not give it a go. I enjoy all kinds of sport in general and I am devoted to my fitness so this is one way of keeping me in top shape."

Company President Hirotoshi Honda said: “Regrettably, we have decided to stop our F1 activity at the end of the season.”
He added, somewhat cryptically: “The condition is still not cleared, as there are a million problems.” This is believed to refer to the transfer of Mugen’s UK-based (Honda owned) infrastructure and several of its key race staff to the works Honda effort, which will supply engines to both Jordan and BAR next year.

“We are going to continue to compete and show our good performances at other racing categories, so your unchanged support will be much appreciated,” said Honda to the press.

He has signed up John Putt, a former advisor to the team between 1996 and 1998, as chief operating officer. Putt, 49, has been brought on board to be responsible for operational matters as the team prepares for its onslaught in the 2001 Formula One World Championship with Honda.
His arrival will allow Eddie to play a greater part in commercial affairs while managing director Trevor Foster will concentrate on the racing.

'In the four years that I have been closely associated with Jordan,' says Putt, 'I've never been more excited at the prospect. Honda are asking all the right questions and, if we are going to deliver in Formula One, then we will have to answer those questions positively - and I believe we will.'

Putt makes his judgment based on 21 years experience in the automotive supply industry, working with Honda since 1981, and also with Nissan and Toyota. Since 1998 he has been working for Management Consultants, McKinsey & Company, as Director of its Production System Design Centre, an internal training school specialising in optimising performance in people and processes. Putt has joined Jordan on a part-time basis, becoming full time when his contract with McKinsey ends in February 2001.

That will just over 10 years to the day he was first introduced to Eddie Jordan by a mutual friend when they met on a street in Oxford. Putt had no interest in motor racing but the growing friendship with Eddie meant his team's progress in its first year of F1 became the subject of regular Sunday TV viewing in the Putt household. The 1992 British Grand Prix would mark John's first visit to a motor race and, the more he learned, the more intrigued he became.

Putt sold his business in 1994 and was retained as a consultant by the new owners. He was free to answer a request in 1996 when Jordan asked for advice on one particular aspect of the team's business, Putt then spending two years helping create a more open management structure.

'In June 1998, I moved on to do something else,' says Putt. 'I left Jordan in reasonably safe hands but made it clear that I could be contacted if further help was required.
'Because of the way the company was expanding and developing, coupled with a difficult season in 2000, there were an increasing number of distractions for Eddie and Trevor (Foster, Jordan's Managing Director). I was invited to carry out a review and I highlighted the need for a Chief Executive Officer, primarily to allow Eddie to expand his role within the commercial side of the organisation, and Trevor to continue his primary role of overseeing the team's racing performance.
'It was a recommendation; I was not putting myself forward for the job. But, when Eddie called and asked when I would be prepared to start, I gave it serious thought! Now I can wait to get started.

'On top of the vast potential which I have mentioned, the Warburg Pincus partnership gives us security in depth, both financial and advisory. This, coupled with Honda, gives Jordan a credibility which hasn't existed before.

'Jordan is major player now and we are very, very serious about delivering. And there is no one more serious than Eddie. I have seen so many plateaus at Jordan. Eddie has grasped every opportunity, and this is another one. There are very exciting times ahead for Jordan Grand Prix and I'm really pleased to be a part of them.'

The difficulties policing the system also prompted the Technical Directors of the teams to vote in favour of a reintroduction. The F1 Commission is expected to give its final approval at a meeting in Monaco on 7 December.

Traction control, which reduces wheelspin when making a standing start or accelerating out of a corner, was thought to be minimising the role played by the driver. However, advances in fuel and ignition systems have given teams the opportunity, should they feel so inclined, to operate traction control systems which can not be detected by FIA scrutineers.

After struggling with ways of legislating against such control systems, the sport's governing body feels it has no alternative but to give in. The FIA has written to the teams, acknowledging that one or more teams were using traction control illegally since 1998 and maybe even earlier. With the size of microprocessors getting smaller and smaller it is thought that some teams have managed to hide the necessary electronics in the wiring, meaning the FIA has no hope of finding it.

Bob Bell, Head of Vehicle Technology at Jordan Grand Prix, commented on the changes and said, "We believe that these changes will eliminate the damaging controversy surrounding alleged abuses of the technical regulations, and at the same time make the FIA's task of policing the regulations manageable. It is in the best interests of the sport and also presents a valuable opportunity to maintain F1's status as the technical pinnacle of motorsport. Jordan welcome the changes and feel well positioned to deal with the technical implications."

Zonta has joined the growing list of F1 drivers to take a year out of racing. Olivier Panis and Luca Badoer started the trend last season and Alexander Wurz, Zonta and now Marc Gene have followed in their footsteps.
Panis has seen his stature in the sport rocket during his year testing for McLaren, ironically replacing Zonta at BAR for 2001. Zonta is hoping to get a similar chance at racing with Jordan if, as widely rumoured, Jarno Trulli moves to Benetton for 2002.

Zonta said: “I’ve thought a lot about next year and going to Jordan as a test driver. It is definitely the right decision for me because another season at the back of the grid, which is where my options for a race seat were heading, would have been bad and no good for my motivation.
“It’s a bit annoying not to be racing because I would have liked to have had the chance to show how I can improve. “But I want to be in a good car and, if I show my potential, it could be with Jordan in 2002.”

Deutsche Posts’ historic launch on the International markets on November 20th has elevated the organisations logistics business to new heights and has made it one of the largest and most efficient global logistics companies in the world.

150 yellow bulls were strategically placed outside the Frankfurt stock exchange, representing the Deutsche Post business universe. A very expensive chauffeur, Heinz Harald Frentzen, was on hand to drive the company’s chairman, Dr. Klaus Zumwinkel in a Deutsche Post Express delivery van to the stock exchange in time to launch their flotation.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion in true German style, Deutsche Post organised a major celebration at the Maritim Hotel in Bonn for some 5000 German and international staff. The Jordan team commanded an entire area to itself, showing off not only its cars, but also its staff, who demonstrated refuelling and pit stops, much to the delight of attending guests.

One change, as yet unconfirmed, is however likely to have a big impact on the way the driver drives and the car handles. It is expected that we will see the return of traction control after a gap of 8 years.

The F1 Technical Working Group reportedly held a meeting in early November to discuss the situation, and members voted overwhelmingly in favour of reintroducing the electronic aid.
Although many key F1 players are not in favour of traction control, they accept that it has been possible for teams to use it illegally, and that things would be fairer if the rules were changed to give no-one an unfair advantage.
The FIA revealed earlier this season that they were aware a small number of teams had been cheating, and this is likely to be a key point in the case for traction control to be brought back to the grid. Further discussions are expected to take place on December 7th.

Heinz-Harald welcomes the levelling of the playing field, but does not like the fact that traction control takes away some of the skill required to drive a Formula One car well, especially in the wet. Many skills that, differentiate one driver from another, will be lost.
“As you are well aware traction control makes the car very much easier to drive, especially in the wet, when a computer looks after wheel-spin instead of the sensitivity of a driver's right foot as he tries to feed 800 hp onto the slippery track.
“With traction control you simply have to point the car in the right direction and step on the throttle. It takes most of the skill out of wet weather driving and although it will ever turn a bad driver into a good one, it could make him look a lot better than he really is. The good drivers will still make a better job of braking or turning into the corners at the right speed, but traction control will make it all the harder to shine.

“I can understand why the FIA wants to keep the emphasis on the driver and not the skills of the computer programmers, but they have little choice in the matter, which they cannot be expected to control other than, ban ALL computer technology on cars, which would be a giant step backwards.

“Launch control systems will do similar things to the race starts. With everyone sure to have a maximum performance off the line with no stalled engines or wheel-spin it will make the starts a lot closer and, ultimately, safer if there are no cars lagging off the grid. However, it will also take a lot of personal satisfaction away from the race for me, for a really good start will become nothing special any more. Now it will be down to simple reaction times as the lights go out."

"The relationship between engineer and driver makes a big difference to how a season goes and I am looking forward to getting to know David (Brown) from a working aspect over the next couple of months of testing before the season starts. He has been running the highly successful McLaren F3000 team for the past couple of years and before that he has been the engineer to Nigel Mansell when he won the World Championship for Williams, so I guess he comes highly recommended.

"I have already had a couple of trips to the factory to see how the new car is coming along and I am really excited about running the works Honda engine in a chassis that I hope will perform a better than this year's car. We had a fundamental problem with this year that we never really managed to get on top of despite going well on odd occasions. We will not be testing the new car until sometime in the back half of January. If the package is a good one, B&H Jordan should be back in the hunt for wins and not just finishes!

Speculation has been rife over the last week that the multi-millionaire Irishman was set to buy-out Richardson’s majority shareholding in the club and inject the necessary millions to steer them away from the relegation zone. In the last few seasons the English club have had to sell their best players so now find themselves at the wrong end of the Premier League.

However, Richardson yesterday denied any approach by Jordan and a spokesman for the race team has echoed that denial. "Eddie Jordan is a Coventry City fan, but any rumours you may have heard about him investing in the club are totally unfounded. He enjoys football but is not interested in making any financial investment in it."

Richardson agreed, “It is absolute news to me and I would have thought it would be highly unlikely. Eddie Jordan has got plenty to do with his own interests and I do not think he has the remotest thoughts in his mind of doing anything like that. I see a lot of Eddie and it has never once been a topic of conversation between us."

It has been announced that the team will invest in excess of $150,000 over the winter months to expand both the factory and number of staff.

Two new mezzanine levels will be built at the existing Silverstone HQ. These will accommodate storage and manufacturing for composites, allow the relocation and doubling in size of the fabrication shop, plus the doubling in size of the hydraulics department, which will also be housed in a new area of the factory away from dust pollution which is was an aggravating factor in Jordan’s gear box reliability problems during the 2000 season.
Jordan’s wind tunnel facility in nearby Brackley will increase its office space by 50% to accommodate more model designers and aerodynamicists.

The expansion measures are being taken to alleviate Jordan’s big space problems in the short term, but plans are in place to move to a bigger purpose-built factory in the medium to long term.

The Irish team have decided to run the Jordan-Honda EJ10 at Silverstone on Friday 1st Dec, ahead of their already scheduled testing session in Spain next week.

The car, which is a hybrid consisting of their 2000 chassis with a special Honda engine for December testing, will join Jaguar and Benetton at the first official session of the 2001 season. The team will use this year's EJ10Bs for the test, but fitted with the Honda Athena engine management system which was developed for the team's big rival, BAR.
The all-new V10s which will power next year's car will not be available until January next.

Speaking recently in Autosport magazine he said that the teams in F1 must remain as these are what made the sport great in the first place. "The teams are the people who are the fibre - the bedrock - of what he made F1 strong, Bernie Ecclestone and the teams are the people who have given huge stability to the sport. We are the people who will be there on the dry days and the wet days in 50 years' time."

Fiat, Renault, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, and BMW, are all looking to buy shares directly in Formula 1 from German media group EM.TV, which currently owns half of the sport.

"The manufacturers are very welcome, and should be a part of the EM.TV programme, or equity participants in teams and F1 as a business," added Jordan. "But I have made it very clear that I'm nervous about manufacturers taking over whole teams. The whole fibre of F1 teams has historically been based on individuals such as Jackie Stewart, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Tom Walkinshaw or myself coming in and taking the intensive risk to start."

Jordan said that he is looking for firmer contracts between teams and manufacturers in the future: "I believe that a company such as Ford has an obligation, having taken the benefits out of its marketing exercise, to make sure that the team itself is allowed to stay intact and is turned to a new owner in good and proper working order," he said. "They can let it go, but they can't just chop it. In all other walks of life, major corporations regularly say, 'this is no longer part of our plan' and - swoosh - it's gone. I want to see guarantees from those manufacturers."