Giancarlo Fisichella scored two well-earned points for Jordan Ford in today’s United States Grand Prix, despite problems in both his pit stops and completing his final stint with twice the planned fuel load. Ralph Firman had a difficult race with several unscheduled pit stops for a wing replacement and tyre changes, and on lap 52 he touched a kerb and spun off the track.

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA 7th
CHASSIS NUMBER EJ13-05
"A good result. We didn’t expect to score points so it’s great considering our pace and our grid position. We did very well, despite some problems in both pit stops. Without those there was definitely the possibility to finish 6th."

RALPH FIRMAN DNF (spin, lap 52)
CHASSIS NUMBER EJ13-04
"The conditions were wet and slippery and unfortunately at the beginning I touched with another car and lost my front wing. Later I had to change to wet then dry tyres and when I wanted to pit for wets again Giancarlo was going into the box so I had to do another lap and come back. I retired when I touched one of those plastic kerbs and the car spun round. We’re not used to racing with them but it was my mistake. All round it’s been a tough day."

GARY ANDERSON
DIRECTOR OF RACE AND TEST ENGINEERING
"The race was quite exciting and the rain affected the outcome dramatically but we didn’t take as much advantage of it as we should have. Our stops were at the right time but unfortunately Giancarlo had problems in both pit stops, one was a right front wheel and the other was a fuel rig problem. We believed fuel didn’t go in on the second stop but it had, so we refuelled twice and he did his final stint full of fuel which obviously slowed him down significantly as well as making the pit stop far too long.

"There was another point or two in it for us but we missed out and we have to look at why that happened because these opportunities don’t come along very often and when they do you have to make the most of them.

"Ralph’s race was difficult from the start when he ran into someone on the first lap and knocked the front wing. We replaced that and shortly afterwards brought him in early for wet tyres, as he was at the back anyway and we took a gamble to see if we could recover - but the rain didn’t stay, it dried out, and we didn’t benefit from the decision. There was a bit of back and forth with wet and dry tyres but we were not able to make up any places and he retired after spinning off the track."

EDDIE JORDAN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
"It’s a relief to score points, just a shame we didn’t get one more. It was a good race for everybody, really exciting and great for us to be back in the points."