Delli Colli has worked with Trulli in this capacity before, when both were at Minardi in 1997.

The team have also announced their expected testing schedule for January, it is subject to change.

January 11th should be a very exciting day for all Jordan fans.
At Silverstone, in advance of a three day test the following week, the EJ-11 challenger for the 2001 season will hit the track on its maiden outing. For the first time ever there will be a works Honda engine, the RA001E, in the back, although it's unlikely much information regarding the tryout will be released with the car's launch just a few days away.

The engine and chassis integration will be controlled by the Athena management system which had a very successful test during December in the back of the EJ10.

Following the two Silverstone outings, the team will then head to Barcelona for a further 3 days. Which of the three drivers are to attend the sessions is still to be decided.

Mr Fukui, head of all of the Japanese car giant’s F1 participation (or ‘Senior Managing and Representative Director of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in charge of Honda's motor sports activities’ to give him his full title!) explained: "We want to win one, at least. I should hope we win one, now that we have four drivers. Maybe the year after that, we'll be able to sweep the podium."

Now in their 3rd stint on F1, Honda have a remarkable record to maintain. In the 201 Grand Prix they have contested (including 17 last year), they have won 71 of them - a success rate of over 35%.

One of their chief designers, Mark Smith, has left the team to join the rival Benetton/Renault outfit.

Smith follows in the footsteps of Jordan's former technical director Mike Gascoyne, who joined Benetton in October and race engineer Dino Toso who is expected to leave over the next few weeks.
They have also lost Sam Michael, their other race engineer, to Williams/BMW.

It is understood that Smith will work for Gascoyne at Benetton in the same capacity as he did at Jordan.

A Jordan spokeswoman said: "Mark has been at Jordan for 10 years, since the team began. It is a big loss for us, there is no doubt about it."

Smith has long ago completed work on Jordan's 2001 car, the EJ11, but his departure, taken in tandem with Gascoyne's, nevertheless leaves Jordan in an awkward position.
Honda had asked for Gascoyne to be tken off the EJ11 project as soon as it was known he was leaving for fear of him taking their secrets to big rival Renault. It is not known if Smith would have had access to those same sensitive areas but, as a chief designer, it is likely.

The other chief designer, John McQuillam, remains at the team, but it now heads into the season without one of the two men who designed the car and no technical director.

Delli-Colli, aged 34, has over 9 years experience in the racing industry, working in the German Touring Championships before moving into Formula 1 with Minardi in 1997.
It was at Minardi where he first worked with Jarno Trulli, producing some storming results for the team. Delli-Colli spent the next 3 years at Sauber as Chief Engineer for Jean Alesi and then Pedro Diniz.

Delli-Colli welcomes the move to Jordan Grand Prix, believing the Jordan Honda partnership to be an exciting new chapter in the Silverstone team’s history. "Jordan’s new partnership with Honda provides the team with its best chance yet of winning the World Championship” he said.

Frentzen’s race engineer from 2000 Sam Michaels has left for Williams. Technical Director Mike Gascoyne and Jarno’s race engineer Dino Toso have both departed for Benetton Renault and this week it was announced that joint-chief designer Mark Smith would be joining them at the Anglo-Italian team.

"When you hear this sort of news you can’t be happy about it," said Trulli. "In the second half of last season we appeared to experience a managerial crisis and the fact that several members of the team have left clearly demonstrates a fundamental dissatisfaction.
"But we mustn’t forget that Jordan are one of Formula 1’s top teams and last year they helped me to start twice from the front row, and I was the only non-Ferrari or McLaren driver to do so. “
(except Heinz-Harald who qualified on the front row at Silverstone!)

Jordan's commercial director Ian Phillips admitted Smith would be missed, but denied it was a surprise. “Mark resigned last July so we've known that he's been going for a long time. He's been with us for 10 years and thought it was time to tackle something new. Yes, he's a loss - all key people are."

All is not doom and gloom however, Jarno is impressed by what he has seen of the EJ11. "We had some good races last season but we were penalised by reliability problems. I’ve seen the new car and it seems a lot less complicated than the previous one. We now have to see what it’s like on the track.”

There will not be empty seats for long at the Silverstone HQ. Smith is expected to be replaced from within the 60 strong design team and a replacement for Toso has already been found. Jarno will be teaming up with his old race engineer from his Minardi days as Gabrielle Delli-Colli has joined the Irish team.

Membership runs from 1st January until 31st December, and you can join on the official site at www.jordanf1.com.

What do you get when you join ? Well, you get :-

	A full-colour membership pack giving full details of the Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda team.
	A personalised Club Jordan membership card.
	A subscription to 'J' Magazine, the team's full colour, glossy magazine.
	The opportunity to participate in the annual Club Jordan trip to the Belgian Grand Prix, including the chance to meet one of the team's drivers at the Gala Dinner.
	Access to the team at a specially organised Test Day at Silverstone OR a team open day.
	Unique Club Jordan merchandise.
	Special offers and competitions throughout the season.
	T-shirt, stopwatch, badge and sticker.
	Plus a range of other exciting benefits and invitations to special events throughout the season.

The cost to join is £36 (presumably sterling, but it doesn't say), but it doesn't end there.
One very annoying point is on top of the membership charge, they charge another £10 p&p !!!, so £36 is really £46 (£48 if you live in Ireland or Europe).
For someone living in Ireland, trying to support their 'home' team the initial £36 +£12 p&p = GBP£48 which in turn becomes IR£60 - considerably more than the initial quoted price - possible more than a bit on the steep side.

Is it good value ?
Personal opinion obviously, there are a lot of goodies and occasions listed above, but with many there will be much more to pay - travel to the events, entry to some events, 'unique club merchandise' etc.

Some items listed above sound good but the descriptions are very vague -
'Unique Club Jordan merchandise', could be good, hard to say.
'Special offers', doesn't give much away.
'A range of other exciting benefits and invitations', not much information here.

The official site calls it “quite simply the best value Formula One club in the world.”

Initially Puma will supply both footwear and team apparel to all the members of the Jordan Honda team. However this relationship is expected to be extended into other as yet undisclosed areas.

"It is always good to welcome a new partner into our team," said Eddie Jordan. "In the case of Puma I am particularly pleased because it is such a famous name within the world of sport and as a sports fan I am very familiar with the company and its products. The presentation of the team is very important and the personnel attending races and tests also need to have clothing that meets very tough criteria. In Puma I believe we could not wish for a better partner."

Martin Gansler, Vice Chairman of Puma AG commented on the deal, "Puma is continuously looking for new and creative ways to market its products," he said. "We like the challenges and competitiveness in the field of Formula One racing. It is a wonderful opportunity to supply high performance products using our experience and technologies to one of the most competitive and exciting Formula One teams. We believe that this relationship will have a lot of potential for new, innovative concepts in the future."

Yet the results were not a true reflection of the performances. Twice he qualified on the front row of the grid (only the Ferrari and McLaren cars and HHF also managed this) at Spa and Monaco, both real driver’s circuits.

The fact that he failed to finish many races was a mixture of the appalling luck the team suffered throughout the year, the terrible reliability of the EJ10, and a few very costly race incidents. But, through all that he is looking forward to 2001 in the full knowledge that the potential to do much better is still there.

He is quick to confirm just how bad last year was. “We had a very unreliable car. We were not competitive every time; sometimes we were strong and every time we were strong I was near the top. But many other times we were too slow, plus we must admit we were unlucky, I think. I was the most unlucky driver. Everything happened to my car. Every race something happened, either in qualifying or the race. If I judge my season on the performance side as a driver, I think good, but on the results side, really, really bad.”

He knows that the difference between a bad race and a brilliant one can be very small. A bit of luck last year and he could have been on the top step of the podium. “I think I was very close to that in Monaco, because without the retirement with a gearbox problem maybe I could have won the race, with Schumacher out. But I didn’t, because I had a broken gearbox.”

The two front rows felt good, but were not the only plus points. “I don’t think they are the only ones. I did a very good job many times, but sometimes you cannot see it clearly, because the car didn’t perform very well. But obviously the two top performances were in Monaco and Spa.” He pointed out that there are no points for qualifying. “But at the end of the day what really counts are race results. I never had a chance to finish those races; I always had a problem with someone, or with mechanical troubles. Every race I finished, I finished in the points, except three or four.”

One very positive point has been the relationship with Heinz-Harald and the rest of the team. From the start it was clear that the two drivers would help each other wherever possible. “I made up a good atmosphere around me and my engineers, I work very well with the whole team, and I did a good job in qualifying and races, and even in testing. Generally I didn’t find any problems, even if Heinz-Harald was established. Many people were saying that through the season I was going to step from number two driver to number one. That never happened because I never felt I was number two driver. I was another driver, one of the two drivers of the team. We all did a good job, I worked very well with Heinz, so it worked out pretty well for the first season.”

In terms of performance he can be happy with 2000 but he will be looking for more with the start of the new season approaching. “The first four races, I lost completely. From then I was always very competitive. Generally I’m really, really happy about my performance compared to Heinz, and I think I can improve this year.”

“In terms of results the team is number six at the moment, because we had a lot of problems. Sure we have to get better this year, but it’s going to be difficult. McLaren and Ferrari, forget it. We have to try to beat Williams, who are getting stronger and stronger. The team has a lot to improve to really be in third place in the constructors’ championship.I believe the (Honda) engine will be a step forward, but it won’t be enough to catch the top teams. We really need to work very hard.”

As with any employee, Jarno was quick to praise the work of his boss, Eddie Jordan. ”I think he has done a very good job. He has done some good deals, like the one with Honda. Hopefully he’s done this one with Hamidy, which will probably be good for the future. I think he’s a good person. He’s always in a good mood, always gives you lots of support, is always positive. It’s very good to work with him.”

The Italian is happy to concentrate on 2001, but others are looking further in to future. He has been frequently linked with a move to Benetton/Renault when his current contract expires in a year and has given his strongest indications yet that he will make that move. “I will be here for one more season, 2001, and then I will decide. I have good contacts with Benetton, which will become Renault. If we are both happy to work together, I think there is a good chance to work together very soon.”

Despite the lows of 2000 he believes he has the skills to get to the top. “I have the feeling that I can win races, but I need a good car. I’m confident that one day I will get it. I just have to carry on, not giving up, get stronger and stronger, and the day that will be my day I must be there, ready to get it.”

Q: At the start of the 2000 season did you think you could get closer to Ferrari and McLaren, or did you expect that it was going to be tough to hang on to third place?
"I may have got my sums wrong. I was very optimistic about the car at the beginning, and I felt we'd made very good progress. But a number of things happened. BMW came in as a works team, and obviously there was a works Jaguar team. The emphasis was clearly changing towards factory engines. Having a customer engine, like ourselves and the people with Supertecs, wasn't going to be an easy task. I don't want to make that our excuse. Our reliability at the beginning wasn't good, and later the unfortunate driver incidents, where through no fault of their own our drivers had very good potential finishes taken from them through coming-togethers in racing incidents with other people, when we were very well positioned. Could we have got 60-something points like the previous year? I don't think so. From that respect, it was disappointing. But I think in some respects the podium at Indy helped us mentally.

Q: Do you think you were flattered in 1999 by other teams underperforming?
"That's possible, but we still won a number of races, so I don't agree. I think we were still able to carry the fight to McLaren and Ferrari better. In 2000 there weren't a lot of spare points around, if you know what I mean. Benetton were the only team to finish second, other than McLaren and Ferrari, and only after Coulthard was disqualified. In years gone by, in 1998 and 99, Jordan were able to win races. That didn't happen last season.

Q: So you agree that you underperformed, and it's not just a question of other people coming up?
"I just think that overall we didn't have the speed. Whether it be the car, or whatever. The driver line-up is very strong. I think the fairer assessment will be 2001, when we have the works Honda engine. We have to perform. There is no excuse. It's an unbelievable opportunity, and I've got to make the most out of it.

Q: What went wrong in 2000?
"We had a major problem where we brought out a major development gearbox, which was more in line with what Ferrari and McLaren had, or certainly McLaren. It was ultra lightweight. But it was fragile. We led the race in Australia, and the gearbox failed on the car. It took us a bit of a while to sort that out. It turned out to be a bigger problem than first envisaged. The problem is that we lost momentum. We did get seven points in Brazil, but had we got six points or so in Australia, and then picked up four here and five there, we would have been off, and I think it would have been impossible to catch us. The problem was initially the gearbox. With things like that you lose development time. You lose time for bringing the car forward in other areas. I think that hurt us a lot more than what the results show.

Q: It's a fundamental part of racing, isn't it? You reach a certain level, and then to move forward you have to push the limits in all areas of the car.
”In 1999 the reliability was so good with the car, we knew it was at the end of its line. Last year was the start of a new type of car with Jordan, which was much closer to the edge, technically and weight wise, with the electronics and all sorts of things. And I think we suffered and paid the penalty. But if we were able to get out of fourth position then it would have been a very worthwhile exercise in terms of taking the risk factor into play. It will stand us greatly in the future. With the car we had in 1999 we weren't going to be in the position to make significant headway. It was reliable and aerodynamically efficient, and people often say "In well enough alone. But in F1 you can't do that. If you try to stay with a philosophy for more than a couple of months, you are just dead in the water. The technology advances being made now are so unbelievably great, you just get left behind.

Q: Was Monaco the biggest disappointment?
"I don't know why, but Monaco always seems to catch me out. In 98 it was the reason that we redesigned the car. It was so bad that we were dicing with Minardi. No reflection on Minardi, but we shouldn't be in that position. It made me redo a whole lot of other things that brought about the one-two at Spa later on in the year. Last year we should have finished second and third at Monaco. It would have been another 10 points in the bag. But we didn't get them. There's no point in crying about it. We didn't take advantage when they were available, for all sorts of different reasons, and we've got to make sure we've learned our lessons. This year there will be a huge responsibility, there will be a lot of pressure. Not just on ourselves, but on everybody. History shows that when Honda comes into Grand Prix racing they have won championships, with monotonous regularity. We don't want to be the team that hasn't delivered the fair share of the goodies for them when they came back. We've got to show them that the decision that they made to go with Jordan was the right one.

Q: Did the announcement of the Honda deal basically save your season?
"It was such a big surprise. It kept everyone alive in terms of the hope factor.”

Q: You mentioned Heinz's third place in Indianapolis. Did that mean more because of the needle with BAR, and the fact that he beat Jacques Villeneuve?
"To be quite honest I was surprised, I have to say. We weren't quick enough there, for a variety of reasons. We had too much downforce, and there were a number of factors. But given the car that Heinz had, he did an unbelievably professional job there. He was very fair, he never weaved once, and yet Jacques couldn't pass him. That's a true sign I believe of a very mature professional. The fact that he wasn't always looking in the mirror, and yet he must have known where Jacques was a lot of the time. The key thing was when Jacques did make a big effort to pass him at the end of the straight, Heinz had enough awareness not to turn in and cause both of them to go off. Jacques clearly wasn't going to make the corner. I thought it was a very fine performance in a car that wasn't as good.

Q: Were there times last year when Heinz lost a bit of motivation when things were going badly?
"I wouldn't say he lost motivation. I think there was some sense of frustration. I think that Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes upped their game, and it was pretty much inevitable after the first two races that the speed had appeared to have gone away from us. I always find it a disturbing factor when it's contract renewal time. He had a big offer from another team. Should he do it, or shouldn't do it, where's his career going, what does he want to do. He had a new baby. I don't think it was anything to do with motivation. I think there may have been a number of peripheral things that may have given that impression. There were a number of frustrating things that happened, with the car not being reliable enough in the beginning, and then coupled with changing the family structure, new contact time, all these offers, they must have had their effect, even subconsciously.

Q: The other thing is that in 1999 he made himself into a clear number one, but last year he was up against Jarno. How did he cope with that?
"I think Jarno has been positive. Damon retired, and this time last year no one knew how Jarno was going to turn out. I think he has moved on. He and Heinz will be a very strong team together this year. Both of them are very quick, they play against each other. There's absolutely no doubt that Jarno is absolutely into the qualifying situation. He's so determined to outqualify everybody, and particularly his team mate. That's a very healthy situation. And that's indicated by Jarno being on the front row twice, to Heinz's one.

Q: Has he exceeded your expectations in some ways?
"I've always had huge regard for him, on a personal basis. He's a lovely boy. When he can get away from Jenson Button in a race let's see what he can do, and then we can make a better appraisal. But I'm very pleased with him. Jenson and him seemed to have this magnetic attraction to each other, and if they were more sensible both of them would score vastly more points.

Q: Jarno is a very emotional guy, and at times he seemed to get quite upset with the retirements and so on.
“Jarno is emotional, full stop. He wears his heart on his sleeve. There's no side to him. You know how he's feeling by the way you talk to him.

Q: Is that something he needs to control a bit, in order to make the very top?
"No, I don't think so. I think Ayrton Senna was a very emotional person. Some people may call it a Latin temperament. I don't think he's Latin at all. Under pressure he's amazing, brilliant. What you see is what you get. I don't think anything is contrived; it's all very natural, and it's there. You ask him a question and you get an answer, and I would stake my life on it being a true and fair and accurate reply to what you've asked. Is he emotional and is it a deterrent? I don't think so. There's emotion and there's commitment, and his commitment is par excellence.

Q: You mentioned Button, but Jarno had a lot of bad luck early on in other races.
"One of the areas of becoming a great driver as opposed to a very, very good one is knowing your position on the track, and knowing how to avoid those first lap things. I think Jarno has learned the basic rudiments of that! The pain that those incidents have caused him, and the loss of points He's beginning to understand that although he may have a very definite line, that maybe the quickest line for him may not always be the best line in the middle of the heated battle of a race.

Q: In other words you have to drive defensively and look after yourself.
"Sometimes. It may not be in his nature, but it may have to be part of his overall package in the future.

Q: How disruptive was Mike Gascoyne's departure in the middle of the year?
"At the time it was very disappointing. Mike wasn't to know that I was concluding or hoping to conclude a Honda deal. He was offered a long-term five-year deal with Renault, and on that basis he took it. Mike is an ambitious guy, and he thought that his future would be better served there. I was deep in conversation with Honda at the time, and there was nothing I could say to him, or wanted to. He chose to go. We've replaced him with Eghbal Hamidy, whenever he comes, and we wish Mike well.

Q: Several of your immediate rivals are on Michelin. Is there a risk that they will have an advantage?
"There's always a risk when there's competition. That's part of the joy of it. Somehow or another Michelin will do a very good job. We had the opportunity, but the connection between us and Bridgestone goes back a long way. I like the people, I like the commercial people and the technical people. Also there's the connection between us and Honda that was one of the key issues. Q: Williams, Benetton and Jaguar obviously view Michelin as a chance to close the gap to Ferrari and McLaren.
By staying on the same tyres as them aren't you ensuring that you will still be behind? "I've learned over the years never just to assume, otherwise things never move on. On the basis that Williams were top dogs for some time, and they moved aside somewhat to let McLaren in, I think it's time for another team to hone in on the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. I have to believe that it's got to be Jordan. Don't automatically assume that we won't be able to beat them. On the same basis don't automatically assume that we'll be number three in the pecking order at Bridgestone.

Q: Your 10th anniversary party must have been a highlight of last season. What did it mean to you, getting all those people along to Donington?
"Because it was embedded in the middle of the season, when we initially talked about it I was skeptical. It was the first week in September, we needed a break, and it was another weekend that we perhaps didn't need to do. As it happened it did turn out to be amazing. It did blow me away, mainly because 90% of the people who were there had Jordan gear on, one way or another. It was quite startling. Sometimes you don't fully realize what hard core fan base we have. There was no F1 race, yet there were thousands. There are different viewpoints as to whether it was 12, 15 or 21,000, I've heard all three figures. But whatever happened we were able to monitor the concert in the evening, and there were 6,500 people at that. It was jammed we couldn't get another person in, and that was amazing. Both drivers, all of the team were there. I don't think I've ever signed so many autographs in a day. There were queues 300m long, which is ridiculous in some ways. It was for me a big eye opener. I think the highlight was playing The Boys Are Back In Town with Thin Lizzy! But most people would think that's what they'd expect me to say. But the other highlight I suppose was just the happiness on people's faces. We put on a good show, there were a lot of nice old F1 cars there, and there was a collection of our own. It was nice to see John Watson and Andrea de Cesaris, who were our first drivers. It was mind blowing. It was like a race that you never expect to win. Going to Donington I didn't expect it, because I hadn't really given it enough thought. Things were good and bad on the track, there were all sorts of things happening, and I hadn't time to think about it. I simply arrived there. It was super. It was the people inside Jordan who did it, it had nothing to do with me. If anything I was hesitant about it, if only because one week after another is just becoming too much. That's why I'm so happy to see this three week gap in this next season.

Eight people who would not normally get the chance will get their five minutes of fame at the Silverstone launch as they unveil the new car in front of team boss Eddie Jordan, drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli and Ricardo Zonta.

John Iley (head of aerodynamics), John McQuilliam (joint chief designer), Marian Hinson (junior aerodynamicist), Alan Richardson (tool department worker), Phil Howell (mechanic), Dawn Simpson (PA to the marketing department), Mark Ewin (vehicle dynamics) and Adrian Smith (model shop manager) will unveil the car.

The new car, which turned a wheel in anger for the first time on Saturday when test driver Ricardo Zonta completed its first installation lap, features Jordan's first factory-Honda engine, as well as a new seven-speed gearbox, which was specifically requested by driver Jarno Trulli.

"I asked for a seven-speed gearbox for two reasons," said the Italian. "Firstly because on long, fast circuits you can have closer gear ratios, but also because on the other tracks having an extra gear can be an advantage at the start.
"If you have a seven-speed gearbox, you only use six gears in a normal lap. Second gear effectively becomes first and you only use first gear itself at the start. Getting a good start in Formula 1 is vital and so it's worth having a gear just for that."

Although Jordan have released no official comment on the EJ11, considerable optimism surrounds the team's new car, which Eddie Jordan hopes will revive their fortunes after a disappointing 2000 season when they scored just 17 world championship points.

Having stepped into the Technical Director's shoes on a temporary basis since Mike Gascoynes departure to Benetton, Tim Holloway will move back to his role as chief engineer. He is known to have not wanted the job of head of the team design so is looking forward to the arrival of his new colleague, "It is excellent news. He is a real talent and we are looking forward to adding his knowledge to our team."

"Eghbal is an expert in aerodynamics and will be a great asset and he will be an important part of the programme for the future of Jordan." said team boss Jordan "It will be a massive boost. Eghbal is very talented and I can't wait to see how he works with Tim Holloway and the results of his work." Eddie has pursued Hamidy for around six months but had to negotiate him out of his Arrows contract which was set to run until the end of the 2001 season.

“I told him I don't want to speak Italian at all since I am working for an English-speaking team and it is important to feel really involved in it," said Trulli.

Delli Colli worked with Trulli in his debut season with the Italian Minardi team and they were reunited this year when the engineer joined Jordan from Sauber.
“I want to make sure that there are no doubts inside the team that me and Delli Colli are fully open and working together with everybody."

Heinz-Harald is keen to put the car through its paces. “Finally, the new Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda EJ11 has been presented in public. Time and again, I am asked the question: Do I like the new car? Yes, I think it looks better than its predecessor,” he remarked.“But I only find a car really beautiful if it is quick, too. Obviously, I can't say anything about the speed of the EJ11 yet, so give me another three days to shake the car down here on the Silverstone circuit.

“The engine should be much better and so will I hope the reliability. And a lot of work has been done in the wind tunnel, too. Of course, we all want the car to go faster, but that is the same for everyone. As far as my goals are concerned I really want to pick up and start again from where we were at the end of 1999 and to wipe out last season. Our performance in 2000 was one to forget and I can see no good reason why we cannot be successful.”

Heinz-Harald is expected to take part, with Trulli and Zonta, in testing at Silverstone from the 17th to the 20th January were the EJ11 will be given its first competitive test.

Co-sponsorship of the team is headed for the second year by Deutsche Post World Net, the global logistics company based in Bonn, Germany. For 2001 Deutsche Post World Net has added two other brands from within its growing list of subsidiary companies to the side of the EJ11 - Danzas and DHL. With Monchengladbach driver Heinz Harald Frentzen helping to increase the team's profile in Germany, the team has attracted major new backing from Munich-based Infineon Technologies AG, a leader in the field of semiconductors and communications systems solutions.

German industry is further represented by: PUMA, Jordan's official supplier of team wear, Hamburg-based e-services consultancy of World of Internet and home/car entertainment products manufacturer Grundig.

Jordan has boasted strong backing from US companies in recent years and this continues with global payments system MasterCard International, communications networks supplier Lucent Technologies as well as data storage and information management company Imation Corporation. The team's IT infrastructure needs are met by Hewlett-Packard, Jordan's longest standing sponsor which recently announced a new three-year agreement with the team.

Brother Industries, manufacturer of office products, domestic sewing machines and embroidery machines, has renewed its association with Jordan for a second season while UK investment company LeggMason Investors signed a 3-year agreement with the team towards the end of last year.

Mobile communications company ESAT Digifone has also renewed its support of Jordan. Digifone has supported the team for four years although its previous status as the team's only Irish sponsor is now in doubt as they were recently purchased by British Telecom. Fleet service company Powermarque, based in Cambridgeshire, England, continues to supply Jordan with its vehicle requirements, while official supplier agreements with race-wear company OMP and champagne manufacturer Laurent-Perrier complete the line up.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed 27 laps in the EJ11 after being delayed early in the morning to allow frost to clear from the Northamptonshire track. The German focused on engine mapping with the new car and was pleased to finally get behind the wheel of the 2001 challenger.

"It was good to get the car back on track, making use of valuable development time," said Frentzen. He added that he though the idea of a Silverstone launch, as opposed to a big London show was a good one. "We are testing for three days and it is a big advantage to be so close to the team’s factory in order to cure teething troubles which are hard to avoid," explained the German.

He was looking forward to testing elsewhere next week though, "If all goes well, we will travel to a warmer environment in Spain," commented the driver whose mother is Spanish.

Jordan's test driver Ricardo Zonta worked alongside Frentzen as he put the team's EJ10-B test car through its paces, completing 21 laps. He worked on the new engine management system, rumoured to include traction control software, that will be ready for the EJ11 after the Spanish Grand Prix in April.

Jordan will continue to test at Silverstone on Thursday and Friday with Jarno Trulli taking over from Frentzen on the last day.

The Jordan driver has a long term contract with Flavio Briatori, the head of the Benetton/Renault team, and Flav has been suggesting that Jarno will move to the Anglo/Italian outfit at the end of this season, probably as a replacement for Fisichella. His current Jordan contract expires then, so up until now there didn't seem to be much that Eddie Jordan could do about it.

It now appears though that Jordan have the opportunity to make more of a fight of it and that the decision will ultimately lie with Trulli himself. "During the middle of the season I can decide what to do. I have a contract with Flavio Briatore which is nothing to do with Benetton." Jarno clarified. "He is my manager, but I decide where I want to go. He might ask me to go to Benetton but if this team is the number one this year, do you think I will go? I don't think so, I will stay!"

So, the ball is back in Jordan's court. If they can produce the package to allow Jarno to be competitive, then he can make the decision to stay. If the season starts like the last one ended, he will undoubtedly be off to Briatori's camp.

The announcement said that over the next six months Honda will evaluate opportunities and potential for Kavanagh in their international race programmes, including Formula One and CART. There has been no comment from Jordan or BAR to date.

In a supporting role, Honda will also provide vehicles to her European BOSS F1 squad. Sarah has competed in the BOSS (British Open Single Seater) championships for the last few years and is currently driving Barrichello’s Jordan 193 that very nearly won the European GP at Donington Park (ironically enough) that year.

Other notable drivers in the BOSS F1 series last year included a certain Mike Gascoyne in one of the Tyrell F1 cars he himself designed.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed 42 laps of the track, with a best time of 1.24.303, running a series of 10 lap sessions and finishing with a time just half a second off the fastest 2000 test time set by Panis in a McLaren.
He said he had a 'positive' feeling about the car, but he did experience slight clutch problems on the new challenger in the morning, these were all fixed by the afternoon.

Third driver Ricardo Zonta was working using a modified EJ10B chassis, and he managed 18 laps of the track as he worked on developing engine management systems.
The Brazilian driver ran successive stop-start runs throughout the day and posted a best lap of one minute 26.709 seconds.

Eddie Jordan also put in an appearance at the Northamptonshire track, and whilst he was pleased with the quick times Frentzen was setting, was very concerned that the car's reliability should of paramount importance.

Jarno Trulli takes over from Frentzen for Friday's test session.

Infineon are one of the world's leading manufacturers of semiconductor solutions for automotive applications and have a wealth of experience in racing technology. They are now keen to extend their association with Jordan so have signed a multi-year deal.

From the Australian Grand Prix in March all team-wear, helmets and driver race suits will feature the company's logo in addition to the space currently occupied on the EJ11. The two parties will also focus on technological co-operations and marketing activities.

Dr Soenke Mehrgardt, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Infineon Technologies said: "As a leader in high technology, innovation, speed and global reach, Infineon has a lot in common with Formula One. We are sure that our racing experience will bring some solid benefits to the Jordan team and are looking forward to working with them."

Eddie Jordan also said that he was excited about the extension of the contract: "I'm delighted that Infineon have decided to increase its level of involvement in Formula One and will be working with us. To be successful in today's Formula One you have to have an edge on technology. Our close collaboration with Infineon will help us stay on top of that technology race."

Britain has been in the grip of freezing weather for the past fortnight, and as temperatures dipped even more today, snow began to fall on the Northamptonshire circuit.

Jordan were left to pack up their equipment and return the 500 yards to their factory, along with Jarno Trulli who unfortunately missed his first day of full testing in the car.

While out on the circuit the German driver suffered a clutch problem with the new EJ11 car, which brought out the red flags for a while and led to serious disruption for the Irish team.

Zonta failed to live up to expectations in his two seasons at BAR due, partly at least, to the fact that the team is built around their No.1 driver, Jacques Villeneuve.

"Of course I would have liked to have been a race driver again for another season," he said. "But I didn't have the right opportunities with the right team at the time.

"A three-year contract with a mediocre team is no good for me. I believe I am now in a better position for the future and hopefully I am now at a team who treats their drivers equally. "I know I haven't made the wrong decision. I know I will race again and this year will be good for developing my career."

The Brazilian is hoping that the Jordan role will be a ticket back to a full-time race seat in 2002 after the Irish team offered him the chance to prove himself.

If this does not happen he has pledged to find a race seat in another series. "I won't do this [test] for two years. Jordan gave me an option for the future. So maybe next year I'll be racing, with a good team, where they give equal support to both drivers. If not I'll go off to touring cars or something."

Unlike many other F1 drivers he is not feeling a strong pull to move to Ferrari. "I don't really have this big Italian dream," he said. "Yes, it would be nice to drive for Ferrari, but my dream is to win the championship and it's not important if I'm in a red car or a yellow car. Doing it in a yellow car would be good, but maybe a red car would be nicer because I'm Italian and Ferrari is Italian, but I'm not saying I really want to go there."

Whilst he freely admits that the Maranello-based outfit is one place where he would not mind working, his increased sense of belonging in the UK as not changed the feelings he has for his unofficial national racing team.

Despite having to endure a horrendous season (results-wise) in 2000, he obviously feels very comfortable with the set-up at Jordan. "I'm not emotional when I'm driving but I feel more English than Italian," he explained. "Ferrari is the best team, Schumacher is the number one and, for sure, they have the best package and will be the team to beat this year.

"Ferrari also, has the best car so everybody would probably like to drive for them, but let's say Ferrari doesn't have the best car, let's say tomorrow it's like a Minardi. Who wants to go to Ferrari then? No driver, I think. This is my mentality, I just want to reach the top.

The team did more tyre testing, as well as focusing on power steering work, reliability testing and the cooling system. Jarno completed 34 laps setting the fifth quickest lap with a 1m22.58s.

His day was not without problems though. His EJ11 came to a stop on the circuit with an unspecified failure. Ominously the new EJ11 has suffered mechanical failures all three days so far.

Tomorrow BAR will join Jordan in Barcelona in the first Honda head-to-head although the opposition will be in their 200 car having written off their one-and-only 2001 chassis.

The team announced they will extend testing this week to include Friday the 26th January with Jarno Trulli again at the wheel.

Next weeks testing at Barcelona will begin on the 31st January and continue until the 3rd February.

The times set by Heinz-Harald and Jarno during current test session at Barcelona do not appear to be that impressive - Mclaren and Ferrari have been up to two seconds faster. But as always, it’s hard to read anything sensible into times set at these tests and many other issues aside from lap times have to be considered.

Firstly, Jordan are so far the only one of the top runners testing their 2001 contender. This means that they have all the aerodynamic disadvantages (reportedly up to 50% of downforce has been lost) required for the 2001 season whereas McLaren and Ferrari have all their 2000 set up. All teams will be trying out the new improved Bridgestone rubber, so Jordan do not gain the ‘2001 improvement’ that is expected to keep lap times around what they were in 2000.
The Irish team is also spending much time bedding down the new Honda engine and while there have been reports of gearbox and clutch problems, the great news is that the merging of the chassis, engine management software and the RA001E engine itself appear to have gone very smoothly.

Frentzen summed it up nicely by saying “Generally I can say that our car was running without any major mechanic problems. The set up concerning the chassis also worked out fine. The only thing annoying me was that our competitors were still using their old cars, which made a critical definition of our EJ11 almost impossible."

The fact that Jordan have extended the current Barcelona test to 5 days means that they are getting way more track time with their new car than any of their opposition will get and that has to be good news.

He was able to set the fourth fastest lap, with a time of 1m:21.890. He again concentrated on general reliability work for the EJ11. Jarno commented on the session. "I haven't done any set-up work, and the car is far from my chosen set-up at the moment. We were checking that we had reliability. Overall Jordan, Honda and I are very happy with what we have achieved. We have collected lots of data and I may be able to start working on the car's set up tomorrow."

Test Team Manager Tim Edwards said, “The car ran smoothly all day without any problems. We focused on long distance running putting the required 450 kms on the Melbourne specification engine. Both Honda and ourselves were pleased with how the car performed today.”

The Jordan Honda team will continue testing tomorrow on the 26th January with Jarno Trulli for the final day this week.

The Italian finished up in third place completing more than a race distance and, as yesterday, encountered no problems.

Their Motorsport Technical Manager Yoshihiko Ichikawa says the prospect of competition has made them produce a better tyre than ever before. He says their new rubber is a staggering three seconds a lap quicker than last year’s equivalent.

He does point out that due to the changes in the aerodynamic rules for the 2001 season actual lap times will not be 3 seconds quicker, but Bridgestone have obviously worked extremely hard in the off season to ensure they have the jump over their new rival.

Ichikawa said, "We have deep respect for our competitor. This has driven us to make significant improvements in performance. Our evolution tyres are already as much as three seconds a lap faster than the equivalent 2000 equipment although the aerodynamic changes imposed by the FIA for 2001 will have the opposite effect."

Michael Schumacher has already given the thumbs-up to the new tyres. "There has been a lot of progress on tyre development and we must not be concerned. To me tyres are more or less the most important single factor of winning races.

“I expect strong competition between Bridgestone and Michelin because they are both very strong, but I think Bridgestone will have the advantage."

Ichikawa has admitted that the company, who will be supplying six teams in 2001, haven’t decided what compound tyre to send to Melbourne yet. "For us there is nothing unusual about leaving the final decision on the specification of our tyres until close to the first race. The staff at the racing division in Tokyo know that this is all part of being competitive. They are ready to start work on producing the 1900 tyres, in wet and dry specifications, which will be flown down to Melbourne in the days before the race."