No points for Jordan in Oz

Jordan lost out on a points scoring finish in the first grand prix of the season in Australia when Giancarlo Fisichella suffered fuel flap and gearbox problems that cost him a likely top eight finish

Mar 9, 2003, 6:22 AM

The Italian was in the thick of the action just outside the top five, but his Jordan-Ford EJ-13 hit trouble during his final pit stop. The fuel flap refused to open, which meant the team had to rip it off to refuel the car. That became academic, however, when his car ground to a halt with gearbox failure on lap 54.

"I was running at a good pace," said the Italian. "But we had the problem on the pitstop with the fuel cover, and then at the end of the race the car had some gearbox problem."

Fisichella was also affected by the accident that befell his team-mate Ralph Firman, who crashed heavily at Turn Five early on. Firman was uninjured, but his car was wrecked and threw debris on to the track.

"When Ralph had his accident, bits of debris hit my car," added Fisichella. "It smashed off the wing mirror and damaged my rear wing. A lot of things happened in the race."