The mood might have been low key, sweetened with a heavy dose of sentiment as he heaped praise on the worker bees who toil behind the glamour of his Buzzin' Hornets. But behind the sugar was the spice of Eddie Jordan's revelation that Eghbal Hamidy, the designer he has assiduously courted for more than six months, will officially start work with Jordan next month.
"Eghbal Hamidy will join the team in February," said Jordan. "He'll make sure that we have the continuity that we need and he'll also be able to plan for the future. He will be key to our future success."
The poaching of Hamidy from Arrows is a major step in Jordan's quest to rebuild a technical department ravaged by the predations of a revamped Benetton team. After losing technical director Mike Gascoyne midway through last season, the designer then set about asset-stripping Jordan of key engineering personnel, leaving Jordan bobbing helplessly in a sea of uncertainty.
Yesterday Jordan, who opted for the relative peace and quiet of a launch at the team's factory ahead of the rock and roll circus approach of past unveilings, was at pains to insist that personnel problems were an exaggeration.
"A lot of people mentioned the people we lost but failed to mention the people we have taken on," said the Jordan boss. "We have restructured the management, added nearly 50 people to the workforce and witnessed the team gel together into the most committed and dedicated team that Jordan has ever fielded. "It hasn't been an easy task, but I have never felt so confident. We are a totally focussed unit looking forward to the tough but exciting times ahead."
Hamidy, the former Williams and Stewart designer is regarded as an exceptional, if temperamental aerodynamicist, and was largely credited with the turnaround in the fortunes of Arrows last year, through his work on the quick and largely reliable A21. He had performed a similar job for Stewart in the design of their European Grand Prix-winning SF03, but, according to paddock rumour, split from the team when the strictures imposed by new owners Jaguar caused friction.
His role at Jordan will be to continue development of the EJ11's aerodynamic package, but, more significantly, the former Williams man will oversee the aerodynamic design of Jordan's 2002 challenger.
Until Hamidy's arrival Jordan will begin putting this year's model through its admittedly lovely paces. After cranking up the positivity with a fiery speech in praise of the opportunity presented to the team by new engine suppliers Honda, Jordan mated the optimism with a warm glow of pathos-loaded loyalty, showing a video in which backroom staff ladled on the devotion with dewy-eyed abandon. Strangely, it hit the right note.
A far cry from last year's overblown souffle of hype and hoopla - a pudding over-egged by false expectations from 1999, a season without Schumacher and without any competition from dismal Williams and Benetton cars - yesterday's launch was about potential, hopeful realism and the odd visit from lady luck.
"If we blow it this time you can blame us alone," said Jordan. "We'll never get this kind of opportunity again and that's it."
The opportunity is Honda. In a sport increasingly dominated by major motor manufacturers, Jordan last year secured a lifeline supply of works engines from the Japanese motor manufacturers and yesterday Jordan insisted the team would do all in its power to justify the company's faith in them.
"This is the realisation of a dream, representing a total commitment to winning the world championship," said the team principal. "Honda has an unrivalled success story in Formula One and we have been given the awesome responsibility of adding to the record."
Charged with delivering on Jordan's promise is an unchanged driver line-up of Heinz Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli. Yesterday Trulli said the arrival of Honda filled him with confidence after a disastrous 2000 which saw the potential of two front row qualification dissipate in a welter of mechanical problems.
"We are hoping for a better year this year," said the Italian. "This time last year we were confident, but this year we are even more confident. We're all really motivated and hopefully we'll reach the results we didn't reach last year."
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