Jordan continues push for 'cheap' engines
Eddie Jordan is campaigning hard for the supply of €10 million customer engines that he feels F1's privateer teams were promised earlier in the season when they agreed to back off on the scheduled banning of electronic driver aids
Jordan signed a three-year contract with Ford last year for the supply of Cosworth engines, but the deal is believed to be optional, depending on the costs and specifications on offer.
Giancarlo Fisichella suffered two engine failures at Hungaroring on Friday morning, and there were further Cosworth failures at Minardi and Jaguar. There have been hints of disenchantment at the levels of reliability of an engine that still costs Jordan a significant proportion of its budget.
At the Hungaroring, Tony Purnell, chief of the Premier Performance Group that includes Cosworth, said: "I've received no technical reports but without doubt we had a number of problems this morning and it is not the kind of performance that any engine manufacturer would be proud of."
As far as next year's engine supply is concerned, Jordan said: "There is a willingness on the Jordan side to continue with Ford. I fought viciously hard to achieve the Ford contract and won't give up on that easily.
"The affordable engines part is the concern though, because different interpretations have been made on that. I believe that the privateer teams were offered €10 million engines and I'm relying on that in my budget format. The question is: do we want private teams or do we not?"
Purnell added: "We'd like to be supplying three teams again next year. The devil is in the detail and the timing. There's a contract [with Jordan], we're looking for a longer relationship and I'm optimistic that it's a strong possibility. A number of people are working in the background on making the supply to private teams more affordable."
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