JANUARY 17, 2005

The truth about the Jordan-Midland situation

A lot has been written in the last couple of days about whether or not Eddie Jordan has agreed to sell his Formula 1 team to Russia's Midland F1 operation. The latest word from the inside is that Jordan has shaken hands on a deal and that now there is a certain amount of paperwork to be got through before the deal can be announced. This does not mean that a deal is done because our spies tell us that Eddie Jordan also shook hands on a deal with Christian Horner some weeks ago but that the deal fell out of bed later when it came to the details. If the new deal does go ahead we hear that Eddie Jordan will be retained for a period of time and will probably act as a consultant to the existing Jordan sponsors that may wish to continue with the Midland team. It may be that Midland will let Jordan be the front man for 2005 before the team is properly launched, in much the same way as the Tyrrell family stayed on (if only for a few months) after its team was acquired by British American Racing back in 1997.

One of the motivations behind the sale is that Eddie Jordan is keen not to be at the back of the F1 grid which is a distinct possibility given that the team is going to to have to use a modified version of the old car for a good part of the forthcoming season, while Minardi will have a new car which the team hopes will be a big step forward in terms of aerodynamics. Minardi is also likely to benefit from Red Bull Racing's ambivalence towards Cosworth Racing. It is no secret that the Austrian-owned team is looking for an alternative engine supplier in 2006 and might even invest in its own engine. This being the case, it is not hard to imagine that Cosworth will not be overly keen to give away too many secrets if it believes that Red Bull will jump ship at the end of the year. Minardi has been a steady Cosworth customer and is likely to remain so for the future.