Jordan may stick with Sato after all

MOTOR SPORT: Eddie Jordan yesterday hinted that out of favour Takuma Sato may yet figure in the Irish team boss's plans for next year, saying he would favour continuity within the team.

Rumour has linked both Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine with return visits to the Silverstone-based squad and while the Frentzen whispers quietened soon after an abortive attempt to put the German into the EJ12 at the French Grand Prix and evaporated completely last week when the German returned to another old stomping ground, Sauber, the Irvine speculation continues.

On Thursday, Irvine praised Jordan, saying the new package was a promising one and added he had long been admirer of Jordan engineering boss Gary Anderson, with whom he worked at both Jordan and Jaguar.

Yesterday, though, Eddie Jordan attempted to head off further speculation about the team's 2003 driver line-up, saying continuity could be the key to making the Jordan-Ford package work.

"Well that's the reason we signed them (Giancarlo Fisichella and Sato) because we want continuity," he said. "When you change something as dramatically as the engine what you do need is as little other changes so you can get the maximum out of the package.

"Therefore I would prefer to keep the two drivers we have on contract and under contract next year to make sure all of the newness of the programme will just revolve around the engine and the engine partner, which in itself will be a really daunting prospect because it does take time to put the two partners together. I said I have a contract and I intend to honour those contracts."

Fisichella will, in 2003, enter the second year of a three-year deal and Sato is approaching the second year of a locked two-year arrangement, which has an option for a further three years beyond 2003.

Formula One contracts are, however, flimsy at best. Such was the case as recently as a month ago, when Jordan was insisting his deal with Honda was not in question and the final year of his three- year stint with the Japanese manufacturer would be seen through. All the while he was arranging a deal with Ford.

So circumspection is again the order of the day in the continuing saga of the team's line-up for next year. Preference for continuity bears little relation to definitive confirmation and Sato's future may yet depend on machinations beyond his control, or indeed that of Eddie Irvine.

Within the Jordan camp it is believed Honda are willing to pay the team to keep Sato racing, with figures as high as $6 million being bandied about. Speculation and counter-rumour also suggests Jordan sponsor Benson & Hedges may be willing to part with funds in a bid to put the image-friendly Irvine into the Jordan-Ford.

As always the shadows and fog that have enveloped Jordan for months show no signs of clearing and Jordan's repeated assertions of loyalty to existing contracts always have the caveat of a hastily-added "at the moment". Even the Ford deal, the one apparent certainty to have emerged from the clouds of obfuscation, has yet to be officially confirmed by the Dearborn manufacturing giant and the true details of the supply relationship between the Irish team and the motor manufacturer have yet to become clear.

Until such time as Jordan is free to show his hand, the only evidence available from the yellow team is the performance of their drivers on the track and yesterday at Spa, Fisichella and Sato were pushed wide of the top 10 by a confident first day's running by Michelin-shod teams.

The Italian wound up 14th at the end of the practice sessions, which were abbreviated due to early and appropriate fog which prevented rescue helicopters from taking off and landing at nearby Liege hospital.

"During the first half hour we had a problem with the dampers and a very unstable car," he said. "The second session was better but at the moment our grip is not good and the balance is not perfect. We are struggling a little bit."

With Sato just two tenths further back in 15th, despite engine failure, head of race team engineering Gary Anderson admitted the team was behind schedule. "It wasn't too bad but we should have done more," he said. "The second session was a bit of a waste of time as we didn't get much accomplished with Giancarlo's car and Takuma lost a lot of time with his engine failure.

"But all is not lost as we've got a reasonable balance for the car and we've run some race set-up and done some work for tomorrow. We just didn't make good use of the time available."

Michelin's partner teams did however and the French company, who had a successful outing here last year with an all Williams front row were again on the attack yesterday, with McLaren's Kimi Raikonnen quickest and team-mate David Coulthard second.

Coulthard, though, was dismissive of the result. "There have been other Fridays this year when we have been fastest so let's wait and see what happens tomorrow. We were following a specific programme to evaluate tyres and we did gain a lot of useful data."

Michelin's evaluation of which tyre to take to the race appears to have worked as well, with the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello the only Bridgestone runners in the top ten in free practice.

Bridgestone officials insisted they would bounce back tomorrow but while Schumacher may be eyeing a sixth Spa win and the breaking of the record for most wins in a season tomorrow, it so far looks like a repeat performance of last year's qualifying could be on the cards with Juan Pablo Montoya, the man with six pole positions to his name already this season, looking the most likely to start tomorrow's race from the front.