Fisi Falters. Firman Finishes 10th

Good Show
By Phil Giles
March 23 2003

Ralph Firman has driven a strong race for Jordan and finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in 10th place. Giancarlo unusually failed to make it away from the grid after a strange manoeuver on the formation lap.

t's been a mixed weekend for the Silverstone based team.  The team who have opted for testing on the Friday morning had a steady run, athough 15 minutes from the end, Firman's front suspension failed sending the Irishman into the gravel.  Friday's qualifying session saw more problems with understeer for both of the EJ13's.  A recurring problem for the team, who should be working on this.  Ralph who won the 2002  Formula Nippon race here, ended his flying lap in 17th.  Giancarlo in 12th after the tyres started to loose their effectiveness when they started graining.

Saturday, the team fared less well with the team loosing places on the grid.  Giancarlo dropped to 14th place on the grid for the race. He said: "The lap was okay. We have chosen to go with the hard tyres which maybe is not fantastic for qualifying but it could be good for tomorrow. So I hope the race will be a better reflection of our potential." 

Ralph fared less well.  Firman ended the session in 20th place after the high temperatures at the circuit affected the balance of the car.  "The circuit has changed a lot from this morning with the temperature going up, and as a result I experienced a lot of oversteer in the last sector. But I'm reasonably satisfied with that and hopefully tomorrow will be good."

Come race day however, a change in fortune saw Giancarlo Fisichella fail to start the Grand Prix.  Ralph drove a solid race, however suffered a gearbox problem at his second stop, having to be pushed away from his pit box before the gearbox would engage.  Fisichella while forming up on the grid, drove into the wrong grid position. As a result, he had to manoeuvre across the track, engage reverse and slowly travel backwards into his grid position.  He either couldn't engage a gear after this or stalled his car on the grid, but either way he wasn't going anywhere.

Ralph ended the race in 10th place, but had lost out a place on the final lap.  He stopped at the end of the pit lane clearly with some sort of mechanical gremlin, however he drove a strong race and the team must be extremely happy with his performance today.