Eddie Jordan: I couldn't afford to lose Nick

I have always said that I want to help Nick get a top drive and I will stay true to my word. I also have to protect the interests of Jordan. If one of our drivers were to test elsewhere, Jordan would have had 24 hours to find a new driver and test him for three days with all the costs that involved so all I asked Williams for was for those costs to be covered. I never sought to make a profit from this, only to cover the losses we would have to repay for example for extra engine mileage with a new driver.

Williams approached us and asked whether I would release Nick to test for them in Jerez. I was prepared to release him if this test was intended to give him the chance to prove himself deserving of a race drive there in 2005. I have been working for some time to help him get that race seat next year. However, they told me it was a shoot-out between Nick and Antonio Pizzonia for a race drive in Hockenheim this year. The quickest driver would race in Hockenheim, Hungary and Belgium as they believe Ralf will be back in Monza. They said they would negotiate with me on Friday after the test, after they had seen him drive.

It's not Jordan's problem that Williams are losing both their drivers this year and have employed two test drivers that they don't want to use in the races. Jordan has employed Timo [Glock] this year as a test and reserve driver and when we needed to we were very happy to use him in a race - to very good results.

I asked Werner Heinz [Heidfeld's manager] to get Williams to confirm in writing exactly what their intentions were with Nick; was it a test for next year, which I was happy with, or was it in fact a shoot-out between him and Pizzonia for three races this year, starting in Hockenheim - which I was against?

However, Williams would not confirm and faced with the possibility that he might (a) lose the shoot-out or (b) have three races with another team and then try to come back to Jordan, I said I could not proceed unless he would have a race seat in 2005. After that they did not contact me. I think this reveals that they were playing with Nick, it looked like they don't want to commit to him but they want to use him for a test and maybe a handful of races, for their own gain.

In addition, it's important to realise that we have various contractual obligations to sponsors and technical partners such as Ford and Bridgestone, for example Bridgestone could not agree to a driver racing with a rival supplier and then returning to them. These are not financial issues.



I have to protect the best interests of the team and I have an obligation to the team, staff, sponsors and partners to field the strongest team possible and in 2004 that includes Nick driving. Had Williams confirmed that they wanted him for 2005 - not just for this shoot-out and then possibly two or three races, with no further guarantees for Nick's future - I think I could have got a positive decision from my partners and we may have been able to release him for the test.

Williams would not do this and they said if, and only if, he was quick enough in the shoot-out they wanted him to race until Monza. In my view this was not acceptable to any of our partners, or for Nick's career. I was not prepared for him to test as part of a shoot-out for the chance to maybe have two or three races with no further guarantees, and all at Jordan's loss. Williams are trying to avoid finishing fifth in the championship and the loss of face and income that entails; Similarly we want to stay ahead of Jaguar and possibly catch Toyota for seventh place in the championship - one wet race would probably allow us to achieve that if Nick is driving.



Nick's career has not been destroyed by this situation! I gave Nick a free drive at the beginning of 2004, despite really needing sponsorship from all our drivers. If it had not been for Jordan giving Nick a seat in 2004, Williams would not even have considered him now - and I still believe he is on their list for 2005.

If he does a good job for Jordan for the rest of this year, I am confident he can and will go to Williams in 2005. Nick is our driver for 2004 and while we need him very much, we were happy to seek permission from our partners for him to test for a rival team, if it would help him get that drive in 2005. But I was not happy with the idea of a shoot-out to compete to race from Hockenheim to Monza. Imagine also if he had not been successful, against a driver who has already driven that car for thousands of miles. How would he have responded to that? That would have been more damaging in my view.

For the avoidance of any doubt, Jordan is very keen to help Nick get a drive at Williams in 2005 and I will continue to do work towards that. I am disappointed if his management does not see my efforts in that respect. Nobody forced Nick to drive for Jordan in 2004 and we cannot accept him walking out mid season in the middle of our fight-back year, for the chance of a few races with no promise of a future. I hope nobody in the paddock believes I would deliberately damage a young driver's career. In my view we acted to protect the team, and to protect the driver. And I will continue to help Nick in any way I can for 2005.