Jordan preview their Monaco weekend

Giorgio
By Phil Giles
May 19 2004

Jordan are preparing for the Monaco Grand Prix which gets underway tomorrow in the Monte Carlo Principality, amongst rumour that one of Jordan's drivers is about to be dropped in favour of Jos Verstappen.

Jordan have indicated that despite picking up a slight injury in a football match, Giorgio Pantano will start the weekend alongside Nick Heidfeld.  Timo Glock will join the team to run their third car on Thursday.

A number of rumours have recently been voiced by the media and the fans alike.  Giorgio is to go because his sponsors haven't coughed up.  Verstappen will replace him in Canada.  Nick would be dropped instead of Giorgio because of his lack of sponsorship etc etc. As of today, none of those rumours have been founded in anything but pure speculation.  Is Verstappen in Monaco?

Nick is looking forward to racing through the Monaco street circuit.  "Monaco is one of my favourite circuits, along with Suzuka. It’s a very special race, driving through the city, as it doesn’t give you room for mistakes and on top of that it’s a very special atmosphere every year. From the team’s point of view, we probably have a better chance here than we had in the last couple of races because if you look at history, anything can happen in Monaco. We will try our best and see what happens.”

Giorgio has raced here before but never at the speeds that F1 can reach.  “I expect Monaco to be very challenging for me as I have never been there with an F1 car." He said.  "It will be quite hard to understand quickly how to use it best, finding its limits, where the braking points are and so on. Fortunately I know the circuit as I have been there three times in F3000, so it’s a case of applying my existing knowledge to learning Monaco in F1. It’s demanding because there is absolutely no allowance for mistakes – every error will damage your car, for sure. The trick is to concentrate and be careful while at the same time going fast and always on the limit. It’s a circuit where it may be possible for us to get a good result as you never know what might happen."

James Robinson said:  "Monaco is going to be a challenge and I would expect the tyre war to be at its hottest in the competition for pole position at Monte Carlo. At present it’s difficult to judge exactly how that will transpire. We’re all looking forward to Monte Carlo very much and it’s good to see they have been working hard on developing the facilities and garages. I think the improved working conditions for the team will make the weekend a little bit easier and more enjoyable than in previous years so we can concentrate totally on having a good race.”