One home for Jordan in Hungary

By Phil Giles
August 16 2004

The Jordan F1 team endured a mixed day at the Hungarian Grand Prix with the team losing one of it's car's half way through the race. Giorgio Pantano's EJ14 suffered gearbox problems which dropped him out of the race on lap 51.

Nick's race was more positive and as Mr Schumacher zoomed off to clinch the constructors championship for Ferrari, he finished the 72 lap race in 12th position after a flying start where he gained four places, however despite early practice form, the team were unable to gain the best setup for the race car who's steering at times seemed quite jagged.

"All in all a relatively positive weekend. I had a quite a good race," said Nick.  "Although not finishing in the points. I had a good start, gaining a couple of positions, and we made some small adjustments during the pit stops to help the balance of the car which improved it, especially for the last stint. The only problem throughout the race for me was in the second pit stop when the car fell off the front jack. I lost some time but I don’t think it affected my finishing position."

"We had a problem with the gearbox. I think it maybe caused my two outings off the track, as when I changed down the gears, the rear locked and I went off. The car was not bad, once the tyres had been settled in for a few laps it felt good."

James Robinson, the Head of Race and Test Engineering reserved his comments in praise for Ferrari and our joint tyre supplier. "Bridgestone have done a fantastic job. Congratulations to them, Ferrari and Michael on the constructors’ championship in a brilliant display of excellence."

Again, there seems to be continued improvement from the team this weekend, which is great to see.  There appear to have been a number of aerodynamical enhancements to the car and we understand, another package to come before the Belgian Grand Prix in two weeks time.