By Phil Giles
March 31 2003

In case you were wondering, during the Malaysian Grand Prix, it appeared that Jordan suffered a few problems that Martin Brundle put down to the gearbox. Giancarlo couldn't get away from the grid and Ralph had to be pushed from his pit box after his one and only stop of the race.

Worried about a possible glitch in the gearbox or the engine management system, JFO asked Jordan what was going on and if it's a known problem that's being worked on.

Jordan replied: "There are no apparent problems with our gearbox or software. Giancarlo's manoeuvre on the grid heated the clutch to a point where launch control wouldn't work correctly and the car stalled, following which he jumped out of the car.

As for Ralph's pit stop, it was planned before Ralph came in for the mechanics to give him a push to help the automatic pit launch ("mini-launch"), simply because the car would be so heavily loaded with fuel. The reason for the delay was that the automatic pit launch didn't work - it was not clear why at first but now it would appear that no gear was selected until Ralph carried out a manual launch."

Phew!  The car's mechanics passed the test in Malaysia and shouldn't trouble Fisi or Ralph.  I think we can expect a flyer from both.