Wirdheim Makes F1 Debut with Jordan at Monza

Formula 3000 Champion, Bjorn Wirdheim, made his Formula One debut at Monza today, as he tested for the Jordan Grand Prix team for the first time.

The young Swede ran for 46 laps around the Italian track, and despite losing time due to a fuel system problem and electronic glitches in the EJ13, the team said he completed most of his scheduled work, which included brake and damper development.

Wirdheim's fastest lap time was 1:23.633 - six tenths of a second behind Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella.

"It was a bit difficult because we ran into some problems and unfortunately I didn’t get as much running as I was hoping," Wirdheim said at the end of the day.

"The team did a good job though and were able to get me out at the end of day for a few more laps. It was a good experience for me to drive the car, but I was still learning at the end of the afternoon so I would have liked a few more laps."

Wirdheim is scheduled to test with BAR later this month, as well as run on the Friday morning testing session for Jordan. He was originally planned to participate in the Italian Grand Prix's testing session as well, however the team replaced him with Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner who came up with the appropriate funds to purchase that drive.