Jordan's Imola Preview

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By Phil Giles
April 16 2003

Jordan are preparing for the San Marino Grand Prix, safe in the knowledge that the teams outstanding performance in Brazil has been officially acknowledged buy the FIA.

Giancarlo races at Imola as Formula One's most recent race winner.  The Italian is looking forward to what he considers his home Grand Prix.
"San Marino is like my home Grand Prix, it’s also where I won my first F3 race and scored my first points in F1 with Jordan in 1997, so I hope it will bring good fortune.  I am coming back to Italy as a GP winner, 11 years after the last Italian driver won an F1 race (Riccardo Patrese, Suzuka 1992), so I am very excited to return to this circuit.“ He said.

“I am expecting a tough race weekend though, with higher expectations from everybody, which is good, but it puts more pressure on me and the team.  To ease some of that I am playing soccer at a charity event on Wednesday in San Marino and on Friday I will stand on the podium again. It’s incredible - I must be the first F1 driver in history to win his first GP on a Friday and receive the trophy a week later!"

Despite the announcement of the win last week, the team have had little time for celebration.  The team have been working hard to sort out the front suspension problem which blighted Ralph Firman's last two Grand Prix weekends.  The failures appear to be unconnected to an individual component but clearly needs work.

“Giancarlo’s win is a great boost for the team's morale and confidence. I know the team have been working hard to resolve the suspension failures that have affected my race weekends so far, and I'm looking forward to having a really good race in San Marino.” said Ralph.

Gary Anderson felt that if the Ralph's suspension hadn't failed, there could have been a double podium celebration last weekend. "He (Ralph) has a new chassis (3) from this race and hopefully he will be able to show his true speed.  In Brazil, he was on the same strategy as Giancarlo and before his accident, he was as quick as anyone on Bridgestone tyres.  I don’t usually like to say “what if” but I do believe that had the race unfolded differently for Ralph, we may have had two drivers in yellow on the podium.”