Jordan engine deal still unresolved

FORMULA ONE: Toyota have ruled themselves out of supplying engines to Jordan in 2004 saying they have no plans to work with a second Formula One team. Team boss Ove Andersson yesterday confirmed discussions had taken place with Eddie Jordan but said the F1 newcomers had decided to concentrate on their own fledgling programme.

"Their is absolutely no agreement between Toyota and Jordan," he said. "They did approach us but we have no plans to supply engines to any other team at the moment."

Despite Andersson's acknowledging that Jordan had approached Toyota, Honda's vice-president of racing Otmar Szafnauer refused to confirm his team's relationship with Jordan would come to an end at the close of this season.

"It hasn't been 100 per cent decided yet," said the former operations director of Honda partner BAR. "We have a three-year contract with BAR and one year left on our deal with Jordan. We are in the middle of discussing that deal with Jordan, but I don't expect it to be decided in the near future."

The expectation is that Jordan will opt for Cosworth engines and it is believed the Irish team boss is attempting to persuade parent company Ford to supply engines free of charge to Jordan, badged as works Ford units.

The collapse of a partnership with Toyota also means Takuma Sato's future at Jordan is once again in doubt. He was being linked with a longer stay at Jordan, with Toyota perhaps approving of a Japanese driver at the Irish team.

Rumours of a return to Jordan by Heinz-Harald Frentzen have again gained currency after the trail had appeared to grow cold in the week since the German nearly replaced Giancarlo Fisichella at the French Grand Prix.

Three more drivers sealed their 2003 destinies. Peter Sauber confirmed he would be taking up his option on lead driver Nick Heidfeld for 2003, though the announcement would not be finalised until the end of August.

As expected McLaren yesterday confirmed Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard will race for the team next year, with Alexander Wurz confirmed for another year as test driver. The team also showed a video message from former world champion Mika Hakkinen who confirmed he will now retire from the sport.

Another man who may be offered a sabbatical is Jacques Villeneuve. On Monday, at the announcement that Jenson Button had been signed to BAR, team boss David Richards said that in the future Button and Villeneuve would make the perfect partnership but the short term may be different. That led to speculation that with no top line drive on offer elsewhere, Villeneuve may be offered the option of pushing the final year of his current contract out to 2004 and taking a year off next season.

Yesterday, though, Villeneuve vehemently denied he would be on his way out of BAR or that he was considering a year out of the sport.

Meanwhile, on the heavily redesigned new Hockenheimring the free practice results were predictable, with Michael Schumacher taking the day's fastest time. He was backed up by team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the Brazilian finishing the day just two-tenths behind the champion.

Barrichello will, this weekend and until the end of the season, be afforded every opportunity to further secure second place in the drivers' championship with Schumacher's T-Car being put at his disposal.

Challenging the Brazilian's march to that second place will be McLaren. The Mercedes-powered team have made positive strides with both their chassis and powerplant in recent weeks with Kimi Raikkonen nearly pulling off his maiden Grand Prix win at Magny Cours last weekend.

The re-signed Raikkonen was third fastest yesterday with Coulthard three-tenths adrift in fourth, the pair being closely followed by Ralf Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Jordan had a slow start to the weekend, with Sato finishing 16th and Giancarlo Fisichella 17th, the Italian suffering an engine failure late in the afternoon session.