Jordan fires warning over future

Eddie Jordan has made a last ditch plea to Formula 1's major manufacturers to stop putting their own interests above those of the sport - or they risk driving the privateer teams out

Speaking ahead of a scheduled press conference with FIA president Max
Mosley at Monza, where he is expected to defend the major rules changes aimed at cutting car speeds, Jordan said that the time had come for an urgent rethink among the sport's top outfits.

The growing costs, and the lack of agreement amongst teams about rules for next year, has left the smaller teams in limbo about their plans for 2005. And the longer the debate goes on, the more expensive it will be for them to build their new cars.

Speaking to Autosport.com, Jordan said: "Unless there is a fairly radical review about the role of the private teams in the long term, I cannot see how they have long term validity.

"How can they go about their work in an objective business manner when they are confronted with the kind of things that we are currently confronted with - like no finalising of the engine rules and no finalising of the chassis rules.

"It is impossible to participate if you don't know what engines you might get and if you don't know if they are free or not. The manufacturers have created a situation where the private teams are becoming much less competitive."

With only six months to go until the start of the 2005 campaign, the teams do still not have a final document stating what next year's chassis and engine regulations are. The teams were presented with three options at a meeting of F1's Technical Working Group on Monday - and they were handed 45 days to agree on what they want to see introduced next year.

Jordan added: "These people [the manufacturers] come and go and it is up to [the private teams] to fly the flag - but they are killing us. It is getting too expensive to do it - and it is impossible to think of a private team coming in.

"In the current environment how can you sell the sponsor the dream of possibly winning - when you know you are lying like hell or you have gone mad."

When asked whether he believed there would be 20 cars on the grid in
Melbourne next year, Jordan said: "I don't know. I just hope there will be."