25/07/2004
NEWS STORY
Jordan Ford drivers Giorgio Pantano and Nick Heidfeld contended with car handling and tyre problems in today's German Grand Prix, Pantano losing time to two separate tyre-related issues at the beginning and end of the race while Heidfeld retired with a handling problem on race lap 43. In spite of the setbacks Pantano was relatively satisfied with the Jordan Ford EJ14 package and was able to deliver consistent and increasingly quick lap times throughout most of the race, even setting his fastest time on the final lap (1:16.058). Bridgestone and are Jordan are investigating the tyre issues experienced.
Giorgio Pantano: Overall today our package was fast and consistent, with a good set-up and we made a good tyre choice together with Bridgestone. In the first part of the race our lap times were very good, then a lap before I planned to stop we had a flat tyre so I had to slow right down as I came into the pits. Just before the end I had another flat tyre on the same corner (front left). I'm not unhappy though because the car had a good balance, it was consistent and the lap times were good. We were just a little bit unlucky.
Nick Heidfeld: It was tough today. I started to have balance problems with the car quite early on and I thought it would stabilise but it was getting worse and worse. I had to do an extra stop, coming in again the lap after my second scheduled stop, so the team could have a look at the tyres and the suspension but they didn't find anything so I went out again on different tyres. The problem was getting dramatically worse from that point on and I thought it was getting dangerous and difficult to hold the car on the circuit, so we decided to retire. The team are checking what was causing the problem.
James Robinson: It was an exciting race and good to see some overtaking. We ran two different strategies and unfortunately Giorgio's early pace was stopped by a suspected puncture, which we are investigating with Bridgestone, with the very slow lap coming into the pits ruling him out of contention for higher positions from that point on. Nick was on a two-stop race and found it really hard-going, in the end we retired him with a handling problem which we wanted to investigate. He was not in a points-scoring position and at that late stage in the race there was no point taking any risks.
Eddie Jordan: It was a tough day for our drivers, twelve races into a demanding season for us and F1 in general. The three week gap between this race and the next one in Hungary gives the team time to closely examine our situation and see how we can progress and it also offers the opportunity for most to have a few days of much needed rest. We are looking forward to returning in Budapest, revitalised and ready to keep fighting our way forward.