Silverstone, Great Britain 11 July 2004

The British circuit in Northamptonshire is the home race for  many  F1 teams, with six currently based in Britain. Silverstone hosted its first FIA  Formula One World Championship race in 1950, two years after the first British Grand Prix. It is a medium downforce and technical circuit, with a mixture of high and low speed corners with some long straights, making Silverstone quite physically demanding, although fairly popular among the drivers. The track demands the car to be good aerodynamically, mechanically and in terms of power, so it is challenging in every respect for engineers and designers.

Tough home race for Jordan


A tough British Grand Prix for Jordan Ford afforded Nick Heidfeld 15th place in the Silverstone-based team’s home race.  Both drivers got good starts with Pantano reaching his highest position (13th) on the first lap.  His fortune diminished from there and his second spin off the track (corner 8, lap 48) left the car stranded in the gravel, causing his retirement.

Qualifying rain threat proves empty

The rain showers that threatened the track in qualifying did not materialise during the session so with the exception of pole position, a quite typical 2004 grid was formed and following penalties to Alonso and Panis, Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano line up in 14th and 15th positions.

Pantano said, “I’m kind of pleased with my lap but I made a mistake in the second sector at Abbey and if it wasn’t for that I would have been a bit quicker.  I was slightly nervous about the weather before going out as I went out late and we were concerned about rain - but I was fortunate.  We have done quite a lot of testing here so I’m confident with the track and also with the car.  Tomorrow we have a good set-up for the race, I think." 

"It would be good for the team and the fans if we got a good result here.  Last night I went to the Jordan fan village at the factory and it was fantastic to see how much support we have and I really enjoyed meeting fans.  I’m going back for another quick visit this evening.”

Team investigating cause of Timo crash

Jordan Ford worked through its free practice plan of race set-up and tyre evaluation with all three drivers contributing to the programme.  Timo Glock crashed towards the end of the second session after experiencing a wheel related problem which the team is currently investigating.

British GP preview quotes

JAMES ROBINSON, HEAD OF RACE AND TEST ENGINEERING
"It’s great to be back at our home Grand Prix and it’s a track that we test at quite regularly. It’s a high speed, high grip circuit.  We have been working with Bridgestone over the last few months to develop a tyre for the track and we are very happy with the decision on tyres for this weekend.  The forecast is for typical English weather, very changeable over the weekend with some rain around so hopefully we can show what the Bridgestone wet tyres can do as well.  Off the back of the very successful London parade we took part in this week, we are excited about motorsport in Britain and entertaining the fans with a good race.  We get great support from the home crowd and it’s also great that our factory and testing staff, who work very hard without experiencing the excitement of racing the cars, get the chance to see their cars close-up and driven in anger at this Grand Prix.”

 

EJ on the British Grand Prix
“This is the thirtieth year in a row that I have been to the British Grand Prix, as a fan, a driver, or with a team, and it still excites me.  It’s great, for a change, to be able to stay at home rather than everybody travelling away to race and it’s holiday time in Ireland so we get a lot of our fans over which is just wonderful.  It’s also nice for local people here at Silverstone, who I feel I’ve been a part of for a long time.  Most importantly though, it’s good to welcome the Jordan staff and their families, who we are particularly proud about as there is huge pressure on everyone working in F1 these days.  This is a hard week for those who are working but it’s also fantastic fun.  We are opening up a whole campus of activity for fans in the grounds of our factory and I am thinking of getting my drum kit out one evening when they’ve got a live band on!”