His teammate had shown the potential of the EJ10 but qualifying ahead of one McLaren and both Ferrari. “With Jarno Trulli starting on the front row and me back on the fourth row after qualifying, it goes without saying that I was already disappointed before the race. The car was certainly good enough for a front row spot as Jarno had showed, but neither my practice nor qualifying went the way I had hoped.

“I lost a lot of the first day's practice when an oil seal went in the differential. I concentrated on race set-up in the afternoon, so I wasn't really concerned about my slow time, because I knew the car had the potential to be quick. On Saturday morning there was another problem when the engine suddenly lost power and I had to park the car for the rest of the session. I got going again after the break, and from the quick laps I had done I knew that I could set a quick lap in qualifying."

Following Friday’s problems Heinz-Harald was obviously looking forward to a straight forward qualifying session but that was not to be the case. A series of tangles with Coulthard’s McLaren made it hard to build up any rhythm.“Unfortunately that didn't go the way I had hoped either. As I ran my out lap for the first quick lap I was asking over the radio if there was anyone on a quick lap behind me. Unfortunately the radio communications around the low side of the circuit are not very good and I could not hear the answer. At that point I checked my mirrors into the chicane and Coulthard appeared at full speed. I swerved right to give him room and he went by without losing too much time if anything at all.

“I then started my quick lap as Coulthard finished his, but he continued to keep up the pace and stayed ahead of me as we got to the top of the hill at the end of the straight. As I took the corners at Les Combes he pulled across in front of me which took enough air away from my front wing to increase the understeer. I went wide over the kerb and bounced over the grass.

The car took quite a bang that split the undertray and the front wing. I aborted the lap and returned to the pits where we changed the wing, but left the undertray as it was, for it would have taken too much time. I went out for a second quick lap and was pushing hard when I came across Coulthard again at the chicane. He had already spoiled my first run and he deliberately sat in the middle of the track going slowly, which left me no choice but to drive across the grass in order to avoid ramming him up the back.

“I set what would have been second fastest lap time, but then I had my lap disallowed for cutting the corner. I had used up half my quota of laps and still not yet set a time! The incidents with Coulthard had completely spoiled my rhythm and on my third run I drove a 'banker' lap just to get a time.

“I had one final quick run, but even that didn't go well. I took Eau Rouge flat out, but the set-up of my car was a bit softer than Jarno's and the car bottomed out and went sideways as it lost downforce for a moment. That cost me some speed onto the straight and then through Blanchimont I had the same bottoming problem again. The car got a bit sideways which cost me around 5kph in speed out of the corner. I pushed hard into the bus stop chicane, a little too hard. I jumped over the kerb and the car bounced off the best line, which lost me more time. The overall lap time was my best of the session, but only good enough for eighth place and a long way off what I could have done without all the problems with Coulthard. His actions were totally unnecessary and a double payback for something which had been no more than an innocent mistake in the first place."

Race day arrived and the Gods decided to put another spanner in the works. The dawn was greeted by a heavy cover of cloud with on and off torrential rain. “After two days of clear blue skies and hot sunshine, race day morning was typical Spa weather with low clouds and rain for which I had to adjust my B&H Jordan as best I could in the brief morning pre-race 30 minute warm-up. It was still wet for the start, but the rain had stopped by the 2 pm race time. I have to admit that I would have been happier to go for a normal start to the race, but with Jenson Button on the second row, having never raced F1 at Spa before along with the wet and slippery conditions into La Source hairpin, I think it had a lot to do with the decision to start us behind a pace car, especially after what had happened a couple of years ago.

“It was a difficult decision to know what to do with the car before the race. It was pretty grey and after raining for most of the morning, it was a gamble on how to set up the car even though it had stopped raining before the start. I went for a compromise set-up with a bit more downforce, especially on the front to eliminate the understeer. However, by the time we started the race the track was already starting to dry and it was only five laps into the race that we were ready to fit dry tyres. I was running quite a bit of fuel and with the dry tyres the car started over-steering a lot and using up its rear tyres, which continued to exaggerate the problem.

“After the tyre stops for dry tyres early in the race, I found David Coulthard behind me and I had to push hard to stay ahead of him as we fought over sixth place. I enjoyed that. I kept him behind until the regular pit stops. We came in together, but to be honest, I overshot my pit by a few feet. That cost us a couple of seconds, which was just enough to make the difference. He got going ahead of me and I had to make do with an eventual sixth place, Coulthard also taking Button for fourth spot by the end of the race. With Button well in front and Villeneuve well behind me, I didn't have so much to do in the second half of the race except to stay safe and finish, which I did."

On to the next race in Monza and Heinz-Harald has every reason to be optimistic. He know the car is much better than earlier in the season and he has the great win at the Italian track last year under his belt. “My B&H Jordan could have been very good in Spa, even if the results didn't show it. Last year I won the next race in Monza. Let's hope I can repeat it this year. Certainly the car is much better now, especially on the sort of fast tracks that are ahead of us to the end of the season. I will be disappointed if I cannot have at least a couple of podium spots by then and, who knows, maybe even a win.”

At last count over 100 grand prix cars, covering much of the 50-year history of the category, will compete at the Deutsche Post sponsored event to be held at Donington Park on the 3rd September.

The event, staged to mark the tenth anniversary of Jordan Grand Prix's participation in the Formula One world championship, features three races with a total of 102 grand prix car entries.

IIn addition, the Jordan team will demonstrate a further five Formula One cars, including two Jordan-Mugen EJ10s currently driven by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli.

The FORCE Classic Grand Prix race for Formula One cars built between 1966 and 1972 has a total of 29 entries, ranging from Ben Liebert's Eagle-Westlake V12 - which won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix - through to Nick Rini's BRM P160B V12 which Peter Gethin drove to success in the 1971 Italian Grand Prix - the fastest ever grand prix which Gethin won by one-tenth of a second!
The Cooper, McLaren, Surtees, Brabham, Lotus, March and Tecno marques are among others featured, with Formula Two, F5000 and Tasman cars all contributing to the line-up.

The BEA Systems Trophy race is the sixth round of the FIA Thoroughbred Grand prix Championship, and sports a superb entry of famous cars once driven by some of the giants of Formula One.
The 40-car list includes the ex-Alan Jones race-winning Williams FW07 of 1980, the Lotus 81,87, 91 and 92 cars once raced by Nigel Mansell, a Williams FW08c previously tested by Ayrton Senna, and Martin Stretton's magnificent six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, as race by Ronnie Petersen and Patrick Depailler.
The field is divided into three classes, for pre-71, post-71 non ground effect, and full ground effect/flat-bottomed cars which dominated from the late 1970s onwards.

The European BOSS Formula Championship race sports a 33-car entry, including the Jordan 194s driven by Tony Worswick and Sarah Kavanagh. The cars are all pre-1998 Formula One, F3000 and Indy cars, including grand prix marques such as Ferrari, Tyrrell, Footwork, Pacific, Benetton, Dallara, Eurobrun, Toleman, RAM and Lola. In common with the other races, the BOSS series is highly competitive and promises to bring back memories for the Formula One fans present, as well as providing entertaining racing for the rest of the large expected crowd.

With Jordan demonstrating its own machinery, including the original Ford-powered 191 and race-winning 199 Mugen, the EJ10 event will present UK spectators with their only chance to see current grand prix cars in action since April's British GP.

Tickets for the event are available from the Donington Park Ticket Hotline on +44 (0)115 912 9124, while further information about the event can be found on the circuit's web-site at The Donington Park Site

F1 fans can enjoy track action from current Jordan drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli, who will drive the EJ10. They will be joined by the runner up of the 1982 F1 World Championship, John Watson, plus Jordan's 1991 driver Andrea de Casaris, out on circuit in the Jordan 191. Watson was in fact Jordan’s first F1 test driver, putting the J191 through it’s paces during the 1990 close season.

For the first time, all 10 Jordan Formula 1 cars - from the Jordan 191, through the race winning J198 and J199, to this year’s EJI0 will be on show to the public. All have bean meticulously prepared by the team and demonstrate the major technical developments in F1 over the last decade.
Ticket holders will also be able to see the unique and amazing Donington Grand Prix Collection. This accumulation is the World's largest collection of Grand Prix cars, filling 5 halls with a wide variety of cars including Ascari's Ferrari (the most successful Grand Prix car ever), Jim Clark's Lotus 23, Nigel Mansell's famous Red 5 Williams. Amongst the hundreds of others are cars driven by Niki Lauda, Alan Prost and Ayrton Senna, Stirling Moss (his Lotus Climax), Jackie Stewart (his BRM) and Graham Hill (his Gold Leaf Lotus). It provides a fascinating insight into the history and evolution of Grand Prix racing.

For those who think they could handle the pressure of working in FI, there will be the chance to join Jordan mechanics in a simulated pit stop. Departments from the Jordan factory will relocate to Donington for the day to show enthusiasts the work that goes into building the Jordan EJ10, and staff will be on hand to answer questions about the complex task of designing and building an F1 car.

An evening concert, for a maximum of 5.000 ticket holders, will include an impressive line up of rock and pop stars joining Eddie Jordan on stage to combine his passion for F1with top class musical entertainment.
There will be displays by the world famous RAF Falcons parachute team and the chance to simply sit back and enjoy music, dance, food and wine; from troops of dancers wandering around the Paddock, to a mixture of entertainment in the 'Irish Village' (the mind boggles).

The party promises to be a once-in-a-decade day of Formula One entertainment, by the team who do it best.

Further details, including booking information, can be found at The Donington Park Site

The Jordan driver was given the ten second stop-and-go penalty for overtaking Rubens Barrichello under the yellow flag, however, it has now been admitted that the race officials have reviewed the incident and agreed that the penalty didn't fit the crime. As a result race director Charlie Whiting has agreed to look at procedures to see if they might be changed.

At first, the Jordan team were at a loss as to why the Italian driver had incurred the penalty as in their opinion, Trulli hadn't done anything wrong, and so they asked the stewards to look at footage of the incident. At the time the pace car had just come out onto the circuit and Rubens Barrichello was exiting the pits at the start of lap 27 and the race was then under control of the safety car. The Jordan driver passed the Ferrari as it was not up to racing speed and Jarno was on the racing line.

Barrichello was actually clear of the white lines marking the pit lane exit when Trulli performed the overtaking manoeuvre, which meant that he had contravened the regulations. Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt was sufficiently incensed about the incident to draw it to the attention of the stewards. Trulli was brought in on lap 37 for a 10 second stop and go penalty, which effectively turned a probable podium into a no points finish.

However, when Trulli went to see Whiting after the race, he pointed out that in the CART series when racing in similar circumstances, a message would have gone out from the respective teams to the two cars asking them simply to reverse positions instead of imposing a penalty. It is now though that Whiting will be investigating if this could happen in Formula One.

It's understood that they have already approached Allsport Management - run by Bernie Ecclestone's friend Paddy McNally - with a view to securing track-side advertising rights, but is also believed to be looking at sponsoring a team next season. One source said: "A deal has been done, definitely, but there is nothing much else to be said yet."
The no clue as to the identity of the team which could benefit from support from Coca-Cola has yet been given.

The US giant has been courted by all the top teams for years, but American apathy to Formula One has always cooled its interest. However, with the USGP completely sold-out and the massive global audience created by F1 growing every year, the Atlanta-based multinational believes that it can no longer afford to stay away.
It is widely felt that Jordan are best positioned to land the incredibly valuable contract, as the team carries the "fun, lively, and competitive" spirit the company are looking to portray but Benetton and Ferrari are also high on the hit-list.

The banning of all tobacco sponsorship and advertising in Formula One, due to take place in 2006, has already stimulated a search for replacement sponsors with Jaguar, Williams and Arrows already running without major tobacco sponsorship.

Trulli was punished for allegedly passing Rubens Barrichello when the eventual race winner came out of the pits but the Italian is convinced he did nothing wrong. He said he was “devastated” by the penalty, which dropped him to ninth.

"This should have been a fantastic result for us,” said Jarno. “I was comfortably second in dry conditions and probably third in the wet, but then I received a stop and go penalty.
“To me there is no clear reason why I received this penalty as I did not overtake anyone out on the track and I would like to look into it further. It seems I was penalised for passing Barrichello as he came out of the pits. But to me, he and I were side by side and I was on the racing line, so I cannot understand this decision.
“Once more it is incredibly bad luck, and once more the team and I have lost the chance of winning points. We raced so well and the strategy was perfect. Our lack of luck is really painful and I feel really devastated."

Understandably Eddie Jordan backed his driver saying, “The situation with Jarno does not seem very clear to us. We do not understand why he was given a stop-go penalty and we have asked the FIA to look into it." He added, "The so-called ‘luck of the Irish’ really does not seem to be with us at the moment."

It is not clear, however, what action the FIA can take at this late stage. There does not appear to be any precedent for this situation so it is likely the FIA will try to sweep the whole predicament under the carpet and forget about it.

"Apart from my good relationship with Eddie [Jordan] and the team, one of the factors was certainly Honda, which is a big manufacturer with lots of F1 success in previous years," said the German driver.
"The Honda people are very committed to being successful again, and it is a big help to Jordan that we now have the support of a works engine. It doesn't only mean we'll have more budget available [for developing the car] in future, it also means that we will have a very strong engine partner.

"Now we look forward to seeing the extra horsepower. After the successes of the past two years, this will be a bonus for us. Now we can go forward."

Major aerodynamic changes have also been made to the EJ10 for Frentzen’s home race this weekend, and he is hoping to turn around his season and get a strong result. "We all want to repeat last year’s successes and I think that the German Grand Prix could be an ideal opportunity for a turning point."
"They have modified the car aerodynamically and I am hoping it will be a change for the better," he said.

"I didn't take part in the last test because I was on holiday and Jarno did the driving. But the results there were clear. We reckon we should have greater efficiency from the car, especially here at Hockenheim, and be able to do better lap times.
"We wanted to use the modified car at Zeltweg, but there were some technical delays. We reckon it will give us better car balance and improved car behaviour."

Frentzen, who recently became a father for the first time, was the star of the Irish team last year, after he scored 54 of Jordan's 61 World Championship points, putting himself and the team into best ever third places in the drivers and constructors Championships.

This year, however, has been a different story and there was a good chance that reliability and performance woes would lead to the German leaving the team in search of a car more capable of winning. The signing of an engine partnership with Honda for 2001 bodes well for next season, though, and was one of the main factors that stopped Heinz-Harald from accepting a lucrative offer from Jaguar.

Commenting on Frentzen’s re-signing, Eddie Jordan said, "We are delighted to have Heinz for another two years. He is Jordan Grand Prix’s most successful driver to date in terms of wins, points and front row grid positions, and we expect him to play a key role in our challenge for championship honours with our 2001 partners Honda and Bridgestone."

Jordan will be competing in the German Grand Prix Sunday 30th July, and Frentzen, after a brief holiday in Sardinia, will be hoping to perform well in front of his home crowd.
“My holidays on the Sardinian Island are finally over. Now I will travel to my home Grand Prix at Hockenheim which is a personal season highlight. So far, I really haven’t been very lucky this season and this is why I am particularly delighted that we contest the German Grand Prix with the new EJ10-B. The team decided to go for this specification after the recent tests and some valuable detail work turned out to be promising. By and large, we can count on an improved car and this will hopefully also be visible in our results.”

The highly rated Australian will become race engineer for either Michael Schumacher or Ruben Barrichello in what is another major blow for Eddie who is already trying to find a replacement for outgoing technical director Mike Gascoyne. To loose two senior members of a design team is a luxury Jordan cannot really afford with the pressure to perform really starting next year.
Sam had been linked with an important design post at Jordan in the wake of the impending departure of Gascoyne to Benetton/Renault, but Tim Holloway got the promotion to head the design of the EJ11 ahead of Sam, pending the appointment of a permanent replacement.

Gascoyne, meanwhile, might well be off sooner rather than later. Eddie Jordan and Benetton boss Flavio Briatore are trying to hammer out a deal for Mike to leave the team before his current contract finishes.

The talented technical director who guided Jordan to third in the constructors’ championship last year signed months ago to move to Benetton/Renault from the middle of 2001 on a deal worth over £660,000 per year, but Honda, who are obsessive about secrecy, are not keen for Gascoyne to have anything to do with next year's programme.
Eddie, ever the entrepreneur, sees an opportunity to make a few bob by letting his designer go early, so is trying to cut a deal for Gascoyne to leave the team early. Gascoyne has been moved out of his office at the Silverstone HQ, while Jordan and Briatore are set for another round of talks at the German Grand Prix.
Team spokeswoman Giselle Davies continued to insist at the weekend that Gascoyne is still running this year's racing programme and the development of the EJ10-B.

Jordan have denied that there has been a total split, insisting that he is still heavily involved in improving this year’s car. It is understandable and natural that Honda and Eddie Jordan would want to stop any technical specifications and innovations from falling into the hands of Briatori and the Renault camp, but if Jordan are to pick up the pace at all this season and move from their current 6th place in the constructor’s championship they will need all the expertise and experience they can find, none more so than that of their technical director.

Eddie has vehemently denied that he is writing off the rest of the 2000 season to concentrate on the new partnerships and opportunities of next year. However if Mike isn’t allowed to do his job to the best of his ability, it is likely that Jordan will finish the season in the hugely disappointing position they currently find themselves in and will have the huge psychological blow of being behind BAR Honda in the pit lane for 2001.

The lack of overtaking opportunities has meant that teams and drivers are having to look to strategy to get results rather than racing on the track. With this in mind Hinz was one of the few drivers to select the harder 'Medium' compound tyre for the weekend rather than the Soft compound. This was the start, and the cause, of the problems for the whole weekend. "As you are probably aware from the TV broadcasts of the Grands Prix, overtaking is becoming more and more difficult for a variety of reasons. The circuits themselves don't afford many opportunities and when there is a chance, the carbon brakes that we use are so effective and the braking distances so minimal, that you either have to get your car into a position where the other guy has to brake early, or he must have some other kind of a problem that's forcing him to brake earlier than normal.
"There are lots of suggestions on how to improve the situation. Such as limiting braking or reducing aerodynamic downforce etc. The grooved tyres were supposed to help, but in practice there has not been a lot of change in the past few years. In fact, it's only when there is a wet race and the braking distances increase that you ever get much overtaking.
"Which is why I was hoping for a few rain showers in the Austrian GP. After a disastrous qualifying session, I was starting back in 15th place on the grid. I had been having problems with too much understeer on the soft tyres, so when the harder ones worked better on Saturday morning, we decided to go with those."

There has been much comment in the last few days about his very strange qualifying strategy where he had all his four runs in about 25 minutes so was finished with over half the seesion still remaining. Sam Michael is widely credited with the inspired strategy that allowed Heinz-Harald to win the French Grand Prix last year running one stop less than everybody else. At the A1-Ring however, it looks like he wasn't as inspired !
"The harder tyres turned out to be considerably slower although the biggest problem was the fact that my engineer Sam was convinced it was going to rain towards the end of the session and he convinced me in turn to run all my laps in the first half an hour of qualifying. It didn't rain, the track got quicker, and I watched my grid time slip lower and lower back to 15th spot.

Moving onto the race itself, Heinz-Harald was being realistic about his chances of a points finish. "It was going to be an interesting race, but realistically it was going to take an upset like rain for me to have any chance of a finish in the points or, as it turned out, a big shunt at the first corner which left me at the pointed end of the field.
"I made a good start , but then as we all accelerated up the hill to the first corner I knew something was going on when I saw the dust fly and blue tyre smoke fill the air. Suddenly there were cars across the road, I had nowhere to go and then the car on my right disappeared and I slipped past a spinning Benetton and Sauber.
"I felt a couple of minor bangs to my car, but before I could work out was happening I was through the melee unscathed and, I knew, a lot further up the pack than I had been a couple of seconds before. It's a great feeling.
"From 15th on the grid I was in seventh place and making ground on the others ahead. I was on a light fuel load and a two stop strategy in the hope of making up some ground in the early laps. Suddenly things were looking up. I took Herbert and was chasing Barrichello five laps into the race when the bubble burst and it all went crash again - literally.

"The scavenge pump for the dry sump had failed and the engine pumped out all its oil over the rear wheel as I was heading into a fast right hand corner, just before the end of the lap. The car swapped ends before I knew what was happening and I had a high-speed ride through a gravel trap - thinking to myself as I spun around that I am glad this isn't Monaco or Canada where there are not any run-off areas!

"When the dust settled I climbed out, checked while the fire marshals made sure my B&H Jordan wasn't smoking for the wrong reasons and then hiked back to the pits. The race wasn't even over before I was winging it over the Styrian Mountains and on my way back to Monaco via Munich where I dropped off the M.D. of Siemens, who had joined me for the weekend. The only driver to beat me back to Cannes this weekend was Michael Schumacher, but he did get a four-lap start!

Mike Gascoyne will continue to work on this year’s EJ10 and it’s newest revision, the EJ10B which is expected to debut at Hockenheim on 30th July. Gascoyne, the team's current technical director, announced recently that he will leave Jordan for Benetton/Renault when his current contract expires in July 2001.

Team Head of PR, Giselle Davies, said that there are no immediate plans to announce that Holloway would be taking over from Gascoyne as technical director.
She also confirmed that Gascoyne will stay with the team until the end of the season at least. Commenting on rumours that he has already split with the team, she said: "He was on holiday last week and was going to be here [in Austria] but a decision was made late that he was not going to come."

The team boss had thought his days of in-fighting were firmly behind him but, the incident between Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli at Magny-Cours had more than a touch of deja-vu about it. “Many years ago we had the same thing with Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella,” he revealed. In the 1997 season his two young and then inexperienced drivers collided twice. The first time Fisichella was out of the race as a result, the second time both had to retire. “I thought I'd perhaps got over all this, but seemingly not. It's part of the growing up process in many respects.” he continued referring to Jarno.

He added: “He's with a driver who finished third in the world series last year and it's a bit of a coup for him to be up there out qualifying him. The two of them are having a great battle and it's very important that the team allows both drivers equal opportunities,” he said. “I do believe in freedom of choice. In freedom of action, but they must never take each other out because the team is always greater than any one individual.” Jordan conceded he was watching the race with a certain degree of anxiety: “There were times when we were biting our nails a little more than perhaps we should have been, but all ended well in the end.”

What are your thoughts on Jordan's deal securing Honda engines for the team?
"It's very good news and Eddie Jordan - the boss - has done a great job getting this deal for the next five years. It obviously gives lots of power to the team but also a lot of motivation and I think that the future will be much better for us."

You have had a few strong qualifying performances this year, like at Monaco when you started from the front row of the grid, so how is the team working to get back to that form?
"Well we feel that we've been very strong in some areas and not so strong in other places and we still have to find the way to be consistently competitive.
We did a very good job in Monaco but we've struggled to do it again, so we're working very hard on the aerodynamics of the car, as well as the mechanical side. As a result, we will have a new aerodynamic evolution in Austria that will give us the power to be at the top again and I'm very excited about it."

Do you think that you can go as well there this weekend as you did in 1997?
"I hope so! I would love to repeat my qualifying performance of 1997 and also my performance in the race, which I led for some 30 laps until my engine blew. To start third on the grid and then have the reliability to finish the race should be enough to get me on the podium on Sunday."

Will the A1-Ring suit the EJ10?
"I hope so. For sure it will suit me, and we will have to wait and see if it suits the Jordan car. We've seen this year that the EJ10 doesn't suit every track, but we feel very confident for next week because we will have the new (aero) evolution..."

Eddie Jordan said this week that he would rather have all of his teeth pulled out than let go of you for next year! You must have a good working relationship with him...
"Well I think it's easy to have a good relationship with Eddie - you just need to do your job. You just need to be professional and work hard and give one hundred percent to the team. And the whole team knows that in return he is doing a very good job too, like securing the Honda engine deal.
I appreciate what Eddie thinks about me and he knows that I appreciate what he's doing for the team and for the drivers. We all work very hard on the track in testing and racing and we give everything to the team, so it's important for them to know that they've got a good boss who is thinking about them and working to get them the best, like the official engine deal."

So, Jordan for you for 2001?
"Yeah, for sure, one hundred percent. And maybe in the future too - we will see..."

So far three new chassis have been built, but the team need at least four. Due to the major redesign, it has to go through the FIA crash test so one will be wasted here. They also need three for a race weekend, one for each driver and one for the T-car.

However, the Irish team will be using a more powerful version of the Mugen-Honda V10 engine in the race, so performance improvements can be expected.
The EJ10-B will be installed and ready for Heinz-Harald's home Grand Prix at Hockenheim at the end of the month.

Frentzen, the most successful driver in the short history of Jordan Grand Prix, has been linked with a move to Jaguar but Eddie Jordan is known to be desperate to retain Frentzen and yesterday Jordan said intensive talks with the driver's management team would begin later this week.
"The engine was the key," said Jordan, referring to last week's announcement that the team will next year be supplied with works Honda power-plants. "I asked Heinz to wait a couple of weeks until I had certain things sorted out, which we announced on Thursday. Up until then I couldn't tell anybody because of confidentiality clauses in the agreement. Heinz now understands what's going on.
"I've spoken to his management over the weekend, and we'll sit down this week and see what the requirements are on both sides and we'll take it to its natural conclusion - whatever that is."

It is thought that Jaguar have offered the three times Grand Prix winner about $9million for next year, a big increase on the $6million he is thought to be getting at Jordan this year. But with about $30million freed up from not having to buy the Mugen-Honda engines, finding the resources to keep up with the man from Monchengladbach’s wage demands will be much easier.

Jordan also admitted that now he has the time and space to consider how best to replace technical director Mike Gascoyne, who revealed in April he will leave to join the Benetton, soon-to-be-Renault, team midway through next season.

He is however unconvinced of the need to recruit from outside the team and admitted there are no available candidates that immediately impress him.
"In terms of a technical director, we have some outstanding people inside the operation," he said. "So much so that a lot of the time I look at how it works and think I've got such good people inside, why do I need to bother looking outside?
"It's the same group of people who developed last s year's car, this year's car and they work well," he said. "Mike has been very good in overseeing these people, guiding them and allowing them to blossom. But I have other people who I believe can do that. So I don't think at the moment there is this great urgency to go out and head-hunt somebody from another team."

While the negotiations with Frentzen and the hunt for a new technical director progress, however, Jordan still wants to see a big improvement in the results for 2000. At the mid point of the season the team has only scored 11 points. Eddie however denied the 2000 season now becomes a period of consolidation in the run-up to the receipt of Honda engines next year.
"Quite the opposite. It's s vital that we go into next season as far up the pitlane as possible," he said. "We were third last year, fourth the year before. The target has to be third again this year. We'd have liked the season to have been better so far but it's a result of seeing the emergence of the real power of Ferrari and McLaren and that kind of power is unattainable at the moment and the next best option is third.
"If we can achieve that it'll repeat where we were last year and it will give us a good platform to kick off in a very strong way next season. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't happen, but right now the pride in the team and the willingness and the wanting to be top three is so strong that there's no thought of sitting back."