Trulli: Frentzen sacking hasn't helped us

The Italian, who will decide his own future in the next two weeks, said he had not noticed any atmospheres or rising tension in the build-up to this week's sudden announcement.

"The news came as a big shock," said Trulli. "I knew nothing about it. I know it's not nice to come here and not be working alongside your usual team mate.

"It's not nice for anyone to lose their seat midway through a championship, and particularly just before their home Grand Prix. I never noticed any friction between Heinz and the team and that is why I am totally surprised at what has happened. From my point of view I could see nothing wrong.

"I've yet to speak Heinz-Harald but that's deliberate," he added. "I know it's a hard situation for him and I don't want to get involved. I don't want to ask him the reasons now because he needs to sort out the situation with the team."

Despite the lacklustre recent run of results for the Silverstone-based squad, Trulli says spirits are high in the team.

"To be honest the atmosphere in the team is not as bad as people probably think," he said. "Sometimes we have a competitive car, especially in qualifying. We have proved more than once that the package is there, it's just a matter of developing it.

"The Jordan team has been working hard, we've had small changes, but there hasn't been a major step forward for this race. But the atmosphere has been good. I certainly didn't detect anything wrong and I have always seen Heinz doing his job well with everybody.

"When the news came suddenly yesterday, it was bad and hasn't helped anybody in the team. This weekend is not going to be easy.

"I've learnt anything can happen in Formula 1 from one day to the next, so you can never relax. I just now want to concentrate on my race weekend and over the next few weeks we will probably understand what happened."