Jordan GP: We'll get it right with Honda

Then there was the internal strife. Chief designer Mark Smith decided to go the same way as former technical director Mike Gascoyne and left the team for Benetton-Renault. The recruitment of renowned aerodynamics guru Eghbal Hamidy from Arrows has gone some way to replace the hole in its technical side, but the team will have to depend on its 50-strong design engineering squad, which has masterminded the EJ11 with the absent Smith, for a little while yet.

During last season, Eddie Jordan pulled off perhaps the masterstroke of his career and tempted Honda to supply his Silverstone-based outfit. The presence of Honda's powerplants in the back of the black and yellow cars has given the team a massive boost.

Head of engineering Tim Holloway spoke to Autosport.com about why he thinks 2001 will see Jordan be a thorn in the side of the big boys once again.

"The fact Honda is with us is a very big change," said Holloway. "Last year we ran Mugen engines with just Mugen back-up, but in 1999 we had Honda personnel at all our testing and I think that was shown in our results. I think having them with us fulltime this season will be reflected in our performance and reliability."

The Silverstone-based team will have a direct benchmark as British American Racing will also run Honda's RA001E units. Holloway admits it adds a certain edge to 2001, but insists Jordan won't take its eye off the ball.

"When another team has the same equipment available to them, such as tyres and engine, you're always going to compare yourselves," he said. "But they are just one of ten teams, and we can't afford to just focus on beating them and ignoring everyone else."

And "everyone else" includes Ferrari and McLaren. The sport's top dogs are still sitting pretty, thanks to the financial backing behind them - but the gap could be getting closer.

"The resources they've got far outweigh anything we've got and they've had those resources over sustained periods," added Holloway. "At Jordan we've had sensible sponsorship for the last two or three years, and the capital investment within the company is immense at the moment and that's starting to come through, but we're playing catch-up to start with. That influx of money is starting to help us a lot now."

But money is nothing without the right people there to be paid. The loss of the likes of Gascoyne and Smith have been a blow to Jordan, but Holloway believes it can weather the storm and still produce a fast racing car.

"I've been in motor racing for 25 years, and the same way that drivers move around, so do technical staff," he said. "When somebody leaves initially then it's a loss, but sometimes people leaving to allow fresh faces to come in is a good impetus to the team. The main core of Jordan is very stable and has been for five or six years now. And we have the arrival of Eghbal Hamidy, who will have an input into everything. What he's done over the last two years shows his talents from an aerodynamic point of view, so I'm sure he'll have a say in the development of this car as well as the future."

Holloway is the first to admit the new car is a little late in hitting the track but, he says, it has been time well spent and the EJ11 is the best-packaged Jordan so far.

"One of the reasons the gestation period of this car has been slightly longer is because we laid the car out more methodically and found a home for every part before releasing sections of the car [to be built]. In the past we've designed parts of the car, released it, and then found pieces which then have to go in places which perhaps isn't the best environment for them."

One of the hottest topics of this season is the impending return of traction control and its impact on F1. Holloway says it poses more questions than answers.

"We're certainly working hard on it at the moment and the potential for the system is quite enormous, as is apparent from the early Nineties. Things have changed now, however. Tyre technology has changed, engines have been designed to be more driveable, so perhaps the initial emphasis won't be as great. But I'm sure car and engine technology will change accordingly to maximise the advantages of traction control."

But will it provide the level playing field everyone hopes it will?

"It's difficult to say really, because if everybody maximises it then we're back to status quo. One of our problems last year was our tyre life was very poor in the races, and traction control would help that in a race situation. Perhaps the teams who had the biggest deficit last year will get the biggest advantage."

But before traction control returns, most likely at the Spanish GP in May, rule changes concerning the wings will be the main difference for the new season.

"There's a very big change in regulations which has resulted in a big loss of performance and we've run quite an extensive programme to get that back as much as possible. I think we're going to lose around two to two-and-a-half seconds per lap on average, although we're expecting a big gain from the new tyres. With the way the regulations are written, I think that at Hockenheim we'll actually be quicker than last year, but somewhere like Monaco we expect to lose a lot."

So those ugly X-wings will make a comeback then?

"Yes, I think you'll see some very inelegant cars there!" he replied.

Holloway has been at Jordan since it entered F1 in 1991 and he believes the build-up to the team's 11th campaign is going better than ever.

"At this time of year, people have all been working long hours and tend to be a bit short-tempered, but I have to say the atmosphere at the factory is very good," he said. "Day by day you can see the confidence levels going up and everyone is feeling quite buoyant at the moment. The brief for this car was not to lose any performance and maximise the reliability - if we achieve that we will have a very good year."

And a good year is just what Jordan needs, or Honda might say sayonara - just like it has to Williams, Spirit, McLaren, Lotus in the past.