Jordan believes Trulli the key

While all around the names of other teams and drivers are tossed around like so much flotsam and jetsam in a sea of gossip and rumour-mongery, Jordan yesterday quietly and with little ceremony gave up the worst-kept secret in Formula One when it confirmed that Jarno Trulli will drive for the team for the 2000 season, replacing the retiring Damon Hill.

Convening a low-key conference at the team's motorhome at the Spa Francochamps circuit ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Eddie Jordan shrugged and admitted that while it wasn't the most shocking announcement in the, the signing of the 25-year-old Italian, who will leave Prost at the end of this season, was a significant move for the team. "For me, he's the key, along with Heinz, that could unlock a potential championship challenge," said Jordan. "Knowing that Damon was going to retire gave me the time to sift through what I thought would be the best combination, the best balance for the team to move forward.

"We are maybe going back a little bit in time to where we had a similarly exciting youthful attitude coupled with experience. But this time it's not so dramatic. Jarno has had three years with Prost, he started with Minardi he's been world champion in karts. He's an outstanding talent and I'm absolutely overjoyed."

Trulli's move to Jordan has been mooted for some time, but the deal became a reality after the Hungarian Grand Prix when Prost's failure to score opened an escape clause in the Italian's contract and allowed Jordan to swoop for a driver he admitted he has long admired.

"In his first season of racing with Prost he led in Austria and that has never really left my mind because had it not been for some technical difficulties I think he would have won the race," he said. "And again at Austria this year it was a similar thing. Damon has been keeping us well briefed on him and when he was driving behind him he said that while Jarno's car wasn't maybe quite as good as his, it was so difficult to pass him. "He thought being young he would make a mistake or push him into making a mistake, but he didn't and that too lodged clearly in my mind. It was like an endorsement, Damon was sort of giving his imprimatur to my decision. It's a great move for us."

Hill's imprimatur was further sealed in a ceremony at the Jordan motorhome in which the Englishman handed over a set of dummy keys to his beaming replacement. It was a bizarre cameo at a circuit where Hill earned Jordan its first grand prix win last year, at the tail-end of a season that had begun by looking like Jordan's worst ever.

Since then Hill has gone from hero to zero as he suffers through a season of self-doubt and self-immolation. But Formula One has little time for the insecurities of its practitioners and as Hill quietly slipped away from the popping flashguns, Jordan was already looking forward to the new partnership.

"Second or first is a logical step," said Jordan. "There's an old cliche that you've got run very quickly to stand still in Formula One, so why not challenge the likes of McLaren and Ferrari?

"At this moment in time that sounds like a very daft statement, but it's only a few years ago that McLaren were fourth in the constructors' championship and they've risen like a colossus into being the team to beat. There's no reason at all why Jordan can't attain that level of competition."

Jordan's battle for the top will have to wait a while longer at least until Eddie Irvine, Mika Hakkinen and, possibly, Michael Schumacher, sort out the destination of this year's title. Yesterday, Irvine, who leads the drivers' championship race by just two points from Hakkinen, was playing down the significance of Sunday's race.

"I don't care if I score zero points here just as long as when we finish Suzuka, I'm ahead," he said. "We'll have a chance in this race. The weather's supposed to be getting better and everyone says that that will favour the McLaren but our car, as we've seen in the past, wasn't too bad."

The Irishman's chances, however, may be scuppered not by his own results, but by the return of Michael Schumacher, who is expected to make his comeback at the Italian GP in two weeks' time. With Irvine leading the championship, but with Schumacher only 22 points behind Hakkinen, team orders within Ferrari are likely to prove complex.

"I assume I'm going for the championship," said Irvine. "I'm leading it at the minute and Ferrari want to win it. At the start of the season Michael was the best hope of winning it and that's the logical way the team worked - for Michael. Now after his accident I've scored 30 points in the last four races, it's logical that I have the best chance."

Irvine's standing within the team may still be in some doubt, but the future of stand-in teammate Mika Salo has at last been decided with Sauber yesterday confirming that the 32-year-old will join them on a two-year contract as replacement for the departing Jean Alesi, who earlier this week announced his move to Prost for the 2000 season.

Salo's decision to join the Swiss outfit, who have strong links to Ferrari through their status as engine customers of the Italian marque, puts paid to oft-mooted rumours associating him with a move to Stewart as number two to Irvine should the Irishman take up the offer to driver for the soon to be Jaguar-branded team.