Jordan to build new car

Jordan are to build a brand new car around the Ford Cosworth engine for 2003 after their link with Honda came to an end.

The British-based F1 team are hard at work on the new car which will not be an update on this season’s model.

Jordan will not test again this year and will put all of their energies into the EJ13, which will have a different look to the 2002 EJ12.

Built around the Ford Cosworth RS engine, work on the EJ13 started in early summer when the team negotiated a deal with Ford Europe to supply engines for 2003.

Henri Durand, Jordan’s Director of Design and Development, told www.f1jordan.com: “We have created a brand new design concept for the EJ13.

“In addition, the Ford Cosworth engine is comprehensively different from the Honda we used this year, so there will have to be an entirely new chassis and a new gearbox before we can run it.

“Since June we have been planning a mid-January launch and to date everything is on schedule.

“When you have a radically different package, it’s irrelevant and impractical to build an interim car – something that is only done when you are keeping the basic ingredients the same.”

As Jordan are building a brand new car they see no need for an interim model and will not have anything ready to test until next year.

Durand added: “Teams generally build an interim car to test an engine which has got some risk of not performing adequately or reliably.

“We are totally confident that the Ford Cosworth engine we have next year will be one of the best on the grid and one of the most reliable.

“As a result we simply do not have any technical reason to build an interim car.”