AUGUST 17, 1998

...so what happens to Takagi

THE decision to delay Honda's entry into Grand Prix racing until the year 2000 is inconvenient for the team's rising Japanese star Toranosuke Takagi, who has driven remarkably well this year with Tyrrell, although he has been unable to score any good results because the car is simply not fast enough with a Ford customer engine.

Takagi - who is managed by Satoru Nakajima - was intending to switch straight over from Tyrrell to Honda but he now finds himself with a year to kill.

The obvious move would be for him to go to Jordan for the 1999 season. He could continue to learn the ropes about F1 with a Honda engine. Jordan is interested but there are contractual difficulties with Tyrrell's new owner British AmericanÊ Racing, which mean that Takagi may not be released from his contract until the very last minute which will be too late in the day for him to move across to Jordan.

He may, therefore, find himself in the position of having to sit out the 1999 season in terms of racing and concentrate all his efforts on testing the new Honda car. If, however, a deal can be struck between BAR boss Craig Pollock and Nakajima it would be logical to assume that Takagi will turn up at Jordan - which is keen to keep Honda and Mugen happy so as to guarantee an extended supply of engines at the end of the current contract.

Nakajima Planning's Yoshi Arimatsu was spotted in discreet talks with Jordan personnel throughout the Hungarian GP weekend.