Jordan kicked whilst down by the FIA

By Phil Giles
May 29 2005

Yet again, the FIA show how petty and single minded it can be as it ban's Jordan from running a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks time.

During Friday's practice session, a mix up on the Jordan pit wall meant that the team ran six sets of Bridgestone Potenza tyres instead of the regulation four sets.  As such, the FIA in their wisdom deemed that the team had gained a technical advantage and as a result, Robert Doornbos will have to sit out another Friday practice session.

The question we therefore need to ask is exactly who did the team gain any sort of technical advantage over?  The team has dropped so far back down that the grid that the only way anyone ever starts behind them is if they change an engine or tries to outbreak someone else into Casino Square. 

Jordan acknowledge that there was a breach of the regulations.  Trevor Carlin said after the infraction:  "This was an honest mistake by the team and we realise now it was against current regulations.  No unfair advantage was sought and we believe none has been gained.  We apologise to the FIA for this error in judgement."

It's understood that the FIA have accepted this explanation from the team but still considered the mistake enough to allow the team only two cars at the next race.  Jordan's qualification results clearly show that there was no advantage by running a few laps on fresh rubber and perhaps the FIA should reconsider penalising the team that are suffering badly enough from a lack of investment for the good of the sport.

Note: This is my opinion, not an official line from the team.