2004 Canadian GP

Situated on the man-made island of Ill Notre Dame on the St Lawrence river, just across from the beautiful city centre of Montreal, lies the high speed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Part of the track runs alongside the impressive Olympic rowing basin, with a footbridge across providing access to the Formula One paddock. This circuit is one of the best on the calendar for overtaking opportunities, with its flowing straights coupled with tight chicanes and a hairpin. The electric atmosphere in Montreal adds to the racing excitement, as the whole city becomes a Grand Prix carnival zone. The track is a part permanent, part street-circuit, so the surface is always quite dusty with a low grip level at the start of the weekend, although as more rubber is laid on the tarmac, a very smooth surface is formed. With long straights and tight chicanes, medium downforce is required to achieve high speeds on the straights, but sufficient grip for the corners.

Revised provisional race results were issued on Sunday evening at the Canadian Grand Prix following the stewards’ decision to exclude the cars of Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta. The result puts Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld in 7th and 8th positions, giving Jordan Ford a valuable further three points in the Constructors Championship, moving the team ahead of rivals Jaguar and Toyota in the standings.

Timo Glock overcame track incidents and engine trouble to finish a strong race debut in 11th place while Nick Heidfeld finished tenths of a second behind him in 12th position, having missed a potential points finish after losing time due to an incident in his first pit stop. A signalling misunderstanding caused Heidfeld to pull away before the fuel hose was disconnected and fuel hose operator Mick Gomme was towed with the car for some metres before hitting the ground. Other than shock and bruising, Gomme was unharmed however Heidfeld’s race was injured as he lost up to a minute in the pits and spent the remainder of the Grand Prix chasing team mate Glock to the finish line.

Jordan Ford drivers Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock qualified in 15th and 16th for tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix following another trouble free day for the team. Heidfeld had a clean qualifying lap and was relatively satisfied with the car after the weekend’s set-up improvements, with his lap time improving on each outing, while Glock reported car balance difficulty but still delivered a respectable debut F1 qualifying performance, finishing right behind his team mate.

The stewards of the meeting have given permission for Timo Glock to drive car number 19 for Jordan Ford for the remainder of the Canadian Grand Prix. Giorgio Pantano is unable to take part in this Grand Prix due to personal circumstances however the team is supporting him and hopes he will be in a position to resume his normal driving duties at the next round of the Formula One World Championship in Indianapolis next week.

Jordan Ford conducted its Friday free practice programme with no technical problems today in Montreal however Giorgio Pantano did not participate in either free practice session. Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive of Jordan Grand Prix said, "A personal matter has arisen which demanded Giorgio’s attention away from the circuit today so unfortunately he has not been able to take part in free practice. The team is supporting him in every way it can and we hope that he will back as soon as possible."

With a successful history for Jordan at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, the Canadian Grand Prix is a cheering prospect for the team, augmenting the motivation from Heidfeld’s points finish in Monaco and a solid result at the European Grand Prix. In its debut F1 season (1991) Jordan finished 4th and 5th in Canada, scoring the team’s first ever Formula One World Championship points while one of Jordan’s two double-podiums came in Montreal in 1995 when Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine finished second and third. Since then the team has had a further six top-ten finishes in Canada, including another podium with Giancarlo Fisichella’s third place in 1997.