Jordan EJ11

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Contents 1 Background 2 Season Results 2.1 Complete Formula One Results 3 Conclusion

[edit] Background

The Jordan EJ11 was the name of the Jordan Formula One car which competed in the 2001 Formula One season. The car was different to its disappointing predecessor, the Jordan EJ10. The EJ 11 now had seven gears instead of the previous six, and also featured a much higher nose than the previous year’s car. But most notably, the team now had Honda engines, replacing the Mugen Honda engines used for the previous three years.

Much was expected of the EJ11. After the disappointing 2000 season, where the team finished only 6th in the constructor’s championship, the EJ11 was expected to return the team to the very front of the grid. The car was very fast in pre-season testing, regularly topping the time sheets at many tracks. The team's first driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen claimed it was the best car he had ever driven, and that he could be world champion in this car. Jarno Trulli, the other driver in the team, was equally optimistic. Many predicted that the EJ11 would be fighting Ferrari and McLaren for the world championship.

[edit] Season Results

At the season opener in Australia, Frentzen qualified a strong 4th with Trulli not far behind in 7th. Frentzen ran in 3rd place early on, but was nocked of the track by Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari. In a strong comeback drive, Frentzen finished 6th, and was promoted to 5th when arch rival BAR Honda had one of their cars disqualified. Trulli drove strongly and looked set for third when his hydraulics failed, putting him out of the race.

At the very next round, Trulli was 3rd after the first lap with Frentzen in 5th after another strong qualifying. Jarno lead for a single lap before spinning off in the lead during heavy rain. Frentzen survived the rainstorm and finished a strong 4th.

The trend of strong qualifying but not as good race pace continued in Brazil, where the team threw away the chance for a podium. Frentzen retired from third, which promoted Trulli to the same position. A lack of speed would see him finish a disappointing 5th.

Trulli once again qualified brilliantly in San Marino, and made a lighting start to run 3rd in the opening laps. His race pace was not strong, and a que of faster cars soon developed behind him. Jarno would drop to 5th, with Frentzen finishing 6th. This would be the teams high in the season.

The Grand Prix of Spain saw Trulli finish 4th, but the team were disappointed due to arch rivals BAR managing 3rd and a podium. In a straight fight the team were beaten by their rivals. Frentzen never even left the grid when his launch control failed.

The next two races at Austria and Monaco would see double retirements. Embarrassingly neither car left the grid in Austria, when Trulli’s lunch control failed and Frentzens gearbox failed. A podium was lost by unreliability in Monaco due to Trulli retiring from 5th with an engine failure, and Frentzen never being on the pace crashed heavily, injuring himself.

Frentzen needed to be replaced by Ricardo Zonta at Canada due to his injures. Once again the EJ 11 was stunning in qualifying, but was unable to keep the same pace up in the race. Trulli however once again looked set for a strong finish and maybe a podium when his brakes failed. Zonta finished a disappoint 7th and outside of the points.

The EJ 11’s qualified strongly at the European Grand Prix but where no where during the race, with both cars retiring from outside of the points.

The team were getting fed up with Frentzens lack of pace in the EJ 11, as he had been out qualified by Trulli in all but one race, and had been nowhere near the Italians race pace. Trulli had a steady French Grand Prix and finished in 5th, whilst Frentzen was off the pace and finished only 8th.

Things looked up for the team at their home grand prix held at Silverstone. The cars were fourth and fifth on the grid, but Jarno wasted his chance by crashing in David Coulthard in the first turn. Frentzen should have finished at least 5th, but trundled home 7th. Eddie Jordan had had enough, and Frentzen was fired from the team immediately after the race.

The team were only 5th in the constructor’s championship with 15 points, amazingly being beaten by Sauber who had 19. The cars were off the pace again in Germany, with a double retirement ending a miserable day. Jarno may have finished on the podium, but spun when trying to pass Villeneuve’s BAR, who managed 3rd. Zonta ploughed into a backmarkers Arrows.

A major aerodynamic upgrade came for the following Hungarian Grand Prix. A large amount of time and money had been used, on the first upgrade of the season. Jean Alesi also joined the team after leaving Prost. Trulli started 5th, but gradually fell back and retired outside of the points. Alesi had a steady drive to only 10th. The team were now despairing, as the upgrade had made no difference to the cars performance, and the team were now 6th in the championship, behind BAR and Sauber, despite having the faster car.

Spa produced some goods for the team, with Alesi scoring a point for 6th in a chaotic race. Trulli looked set for 5th when his engine failed, prompting him to head but a nearby tire wall.

Trulli had his fifth successive retirement at Monza after he was taken out at the first turn by Jenson Buttons Benneton who arrived at the corner around 100 kilometres per hour faster than anyone else. It was another waste of a strong top six qualifying effort. Alesi finished a distant 8th.

Things came good again at the penultimate round held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Trulli finished 4th and Alesi finished his 200th grand prix in 7th. However, Jarno was disqualified from the results after a technical infringement was found on his car. However, in an appeal held after the season the team won the case and had Trulli’s result reinstated. This raised the team up to 5th and back ahead of BAR.

The final race at Suzuka saw the team’s final effort to score the three points it needed to finish 4th in the constructors. It was also Alesi’s final race. Alesi topped the timesheets in his final ever practise sessions. However the team were not on the pace with Jarno only managing 8th and Alesi had his first retirement of the season after a massive accident.

[edit] Complete Formula One Results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
2001	Jordan	Honda V10	B		AUS	MYS	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	19	5th
				Heinz-Harald Frentzen	5	4	11	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Inj	Ret	8	7
				Ricardo Zonta								7				Ret
				Jean Alesi													10	6	8	7	Ret
				Jarno Trulli	Ret	8	5	5	4	DSQ	Ret	11	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	8

[edit] Conclusion

The EJ11 was the fourth fastest car of the season, driven by superstar drivers with a great team behind them, yet the results never appeared. The EJ11 was a great qualifying car, and at nearly every Grand Prix at least one of the EJ11s was in the top six. However, in race trim the car lost its performance. It was also unreliable, with a run of five straight retirements for Trulli, most of which occurred at crucial moments. The team were often able to get the cars into the points, but a mechanical problem would cause the car to retire from the race. Had the car finished every race it started, there would almost certainly have been some podiums. Instead the team settled for three 4ths, four 5ths and two 6ths. Although 2001 was an improvement over the 2000 season, the results were still not good enoguh. Jordan only narrowly beat BAR, and were beaten by the much smaller, underfunded Sauber team. A total of 19 points were scored, two more than BAR but two less than Sauber. The EJ11 was fast enough to finish fourth in the constructors' championship, but constant problems, similar to those that occurred in the previous year, occurred again. Overall, the team underperformed.

Jordan Grand Prix
Formula One cars: 191 | 192 | 193 | 194 | 195 | 196 | 197 | 198 | 199 | EJ10 | EJ10B | EJ11 | EJ12 | EJ13 | EJ14 | EJ15 | EJ15B