JANUARY 30, 2004

Heidfeld goes to Jordan. Verstappen in big trouble

Nick Heidfeld will drive for Jordan in 2004 and that means that Jos Verstappen is in trouble because if he wants to drive for the Silverstone team this year he is going to have to outbid Benson & Hedges for the second seat. B&H is willing to pay $6m for a British driver and although Verstappen is supposed to have more than $10m we have been hearing in recent days that the money available to the Dutchman is reducing and it may be that the Dutch sponsors will not have enough to convince Eddie Jordan to take Verstappen over one of the British drivers.

The deal with Heidfeld is interesting as it opens the way for a future engine deal with Mercedes-Benz and there are already some who believe that Jordan has a contract with Stuttgart to use customer engines in 2005. In theory Jordan has a deal with Ford but we understand that there is a buy-out clause which he may use.