23/09/2004
NEWS STORY
With three Chinese sponsors (Shoulu-Huayuan Co., B&Q China and Citibank China) and several members of the team - including Chief Executive Eddie Jordan - having made special trips to visit the new F1 facilities in Shanghai, the forthcoming Chinese Grand Prix is a thrilling time for Jordan Grand Prix.
Eddie Jordan: We are very excited about coming to China to race. I was the first F1 team boss to visit Shanghai International Circuit when I went last year and I love the place. We are enormously pleased to welcome China into the F1 calendar and to bring our cars and the team to Shanghai. Last year we worked closely with CCTV and through that and a variety of other initiatives, we have built our profile. Our research shows Jordan to be almost as well-known as Ferrari in China and we believe it's because of our yellow colour (in Chinese symbolism yellow is the heavenly colour) as well as our different and exciting style. Added to that, we were first to come here and I think this is borne out by the fact that we have three Chinese sponsors at this race. China has emerged as a hugely important economic power and Grand Prix racing is the first major worldwide sport to hold an event there, ahead of the Olympics and football. This is a great honour for Formula One.
Nick Heidfeld: It's very special to go to China for the first time. I have been to Macau for F3 before but I don't think that really counts. I'm looking forward to seeing Shanghai as a city and I am travelling there early to get used to the time difference and spend some time visiting the city, which is a nice opportunity. People who have been already report that the F1 surroundings and facilities look impressively state-of-the-art. For me it's exciting to go to a new circuit as it's good fun racing somewhere new.
Timo Glock: Shanghai is a more level playing field from my point of view because no one knows the circuit – like Bahrain. It's looks like a fantastic project with everything brand new and really impressive. We are all looking forward to both visiting China and racing in Shanghai but I don't know what to expect on the track – we will have to wait and see! I am looking forward to racing again, it will be really good fun. I enjoyed the Grand Prix in Canada so much and ever since I've been wanting to race again. It's a surprise that the opportunity has arisen so soon and I can't wait.
James Robinson: We had one test day at Silverstone with Timo Glock on 14 September and although the weather was a bit changeable in the morning, we were able to do tyre tests for Bridgestone looking at compounds for Suzuka. It was a fairly smooth running day and Timo did a good solid job. We'd have liked more laps but that's always the case with testing!” “It's a good year for Formula One with two new races – one in Bahrain and now one in China. I think all the teams and drivers enjoyed Bahrain and I think we are looking forward to China just as much if not more as we've seen the facilities they have built and the extent to which they have gone to provide for Formula One. We have a limited amount of track data from the drawings and so on and we haven't been able to run a car of any description there. A number of teams do have data from road or even F1 cars so they have an advantage over us but given that we were in a similar position with Bahrain and we went quite well there, it stands us in good stead. The way we approached Bahrain was good and worked well, so we are repeating the process with the data we received about Shanghai.