Jordan Ford demonstrated a more competitive pace in today’s British Grand Prix, with Ralph Firman holding off midfield challenges for 13th position and Fisichella driving a strong race until he suffered a right rear suspension failure and was forced to retire on lap 46.     

Ralph had a storming drive for a first attempt at his home grand prix, getting as high as seventh at one point after the second Safety Car period. Why was the Safety Car out on track? Because of a one man track invasion by a protesting, banner waving priest who decided that lap 11 of the British Grand Prix would be a good time to go for a jog down the Hangar Straight, as the cars whizzed by at 185 mph.

Giancarlo Fisichella was also happier with his EJ13 than in the past few races, however a broken suspension component sidelined him on lap 46.

Given that Silverstone is not noted for its overtaking opportunities, the crowd got a rare treat as cars appeared to be passing one another left right and centre. At the flag, Rubens Barrichello took his first victory of the season. But the Ferrari man made life difficult for himself, dropping two places back from pole at the start, with Trulli and Raikkonen the early pace setters.

Juan Pablo Montoya eventually came through to second place for BMW-Williams, when he made the most of Raikkonen running wide, the Finn having to settle for third. The race was something of a let off for championship leader Michael Schumacher. The Ferrari man started fifth, but queuing behind Barrichello when virtually the entire field pitted while the protester was wrestled to the ground, he got stuck in a pit lane traffic jam, rejoining 15th. The Prancing Horse cars were the class of the field and the five times world champion eventually fought his way back to fourth. Those precious five points mean that Michael’s lead in the championship over Kimi has been reduced by just one point, from eighth to seventh.

RALPH FIRMAN 13th 
CHASSIS NUMBER EJ13-03
“The team made a really good call with the first pit stop and we’re were up there in points positions for a while.  Obviously it was a shame not to score any at the end but we need to be a bit quicker.  The car had oversteer during the second stint but it was much better and very consistent for the last stint. All in all, it was quite a good first British Grand Prix so I’m pretty happy.”

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA DNF (lap 45)
CHASSIS NUMBER EJ13-04
“The race wasn’t too bad today.  I was up there fighting, the pace wasn’t bad, the car balance felt good, and we had slightly better grip, although we still need more.  I had to retire when something broke, I think the right rear suspension failed.  I’m disappointed that it’s another race I haven’t finished due to reliability issues but it’s positive that we were better with our pace.”

GARY ANDERSON
DIRECTOR OF RACE AND TEST ENGINEERING
“I think that was a good race for punters and TV - it was a spectacle.  Our only drama was when Giancarlo had a right rear suspension failure - it was a low mileage component so we’ll have to look into why it failed.  We tried everything we could with the safety car to help our position, but having taken advantage of the first time it came out, the second time probably didn’t do any good for Ralph, and it equalised itself out between all the cars.  We were running all right in the race when we got into it and if we had qualified a bit better, we may have been able to get some points.  So we should take some encouragement and keep working at it.”

EDDIE JORDAN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
“It should be very satisfying for Ralph to finish with a good drive in his first home Grand Prix.  It was a slightly more encouraging race for us than the last few which gives a bit more motivation with our push to improve performance.  And well done, Rubens.”