One home, one DNF for Jordan in Malaysia

Second DNF
By Phil Giles
March 21 2004

Jordan have completed the Malaysian Grand Prix and in sweltering conditions, like the Australian result, one car came home, the other failed to finish.

A torrid qualifying session saw Nick Heidfeld earn his place on the grid, however Giorgio who had to swap to the T-Car became the first F1 driver to be penalised under the new FIA engine regulations and was to start at the back of the grid.

Jordan's race day was hampered by a start from the Pit lane for Giorgio and a gear's problem for Nick which saw him retire from the race at about two thirds distance.  Nick's race was additionally marred by another problem with the FIA designed and supplied fuel rig which meant an extra stop for the German driver.  Nick was challenging for points at one stage running well and as high as 8th place. 

"I had to retire because I was getting stuck in gears for short periods." said Nick.  "Although at first I was able to shift again, it got worse until I was stuck in fifth gear for more than a lap and after that there was no point carrying on. Realistically the race was over for me after my first pit stop because no fuel went into the car and I had to come in to stop again, very slowly as well so as not to run out of fuel on the circuit. I was trying to move up the field when the gears went. Although it's disappointing not to finish because of technical problems, on the positive side I made a really good start and my speed wasn't bad at the beginning. I kept a few cars behind me - Toyota, Jaguar, Sauber - our pace was quite good."

"I have to say it was a hard weekend for us." admitted Giorgio who eventually finished 13th.  "The difficulties started in qualifying when we had a problem with car. In the end we were able to fix it for the race so I used my original car although it meant starting from the pit lane. I think I drove quite a consistent race, but it was just a little bit hard at the end because my drinks bottle didn't work throughout the race and it was quite exhausting by the finish."

"It was disappointing not to get Nick across the line at the end as he did a fantastic start and was running high up the order and one of the last ones to pit which, strategy-wise, was good." said James Robinson.  "Unfortunately the fuel rig failed to deliver fuel on his first stop and he had to pit again, which cost him eight places or so and put him to the back of the field. From there he started to fight forward, putting in good lap times, when he had a transmission problem and the car was locked in fifth gear. We asked him to stay out to see if it would clear however it wouldn't so we chose to retire the car. Giorgio started from the pit lane as we decided he should go back in his race car and considering that, he was in a fairly good position at the start. He fought on and it was good to get the car home. It's encouraging although somewhat frustrating that we may have had the chance to score a point with Nick as he was fighting with Massa at the beginning and he finished in the points."

So, two races in and it's a 50% success rate this year as compared to just 25% at the same point last year.  In Australia, both EJ13's failed to finish and in Malaysia only Ralph Firman brought the car home.  Things are on the up and Jordan need to ensure that they can step up a gear for the inaugural Bahrain GP in two weeks time.