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Friday, July 27
Owner praises driver's demeanor
Reuters
| |  | | | Frentzen |
HOCKENHEIM, Germany -- Eddie Jordan
praised fired Formula One driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen
on Friday, saying he was a nice man who had to go for the sake
of the team.
The Irish team owner, speaking two days after Frentzen's
sacking was announced, dismissed any suggestion of a heated row
between the two.
"I have never heard Heinz-Harald's voice raised. I don't
believe I have ever raised my voice to him. There has never been
any question of a row," Jordan told reporters at the German
Grand Prix.
"You will never find an easier or a nicer person to drive
for you," he added, two days after his team issued a statement
saying that Frentzen had been fired on the eve of his home grand
prix.
"Heinz is one of the nicest people who ever drove a racing
car and a fantastically nice man," Jordan said.
Frentzen joined Jordan in 1999 from Williams but his
relationship with the team dates back well beyond that to when
he raced in Formula 3000 for them.
In his first season with Jordan he won two races and
finished the year in third place overall, but this year he
scored just six points from the 10 races he has competed in.
Frentzen has referred his dismissal to lawyers and Jordan
was reluctant to go into much detail about the reasons for the
German's departure.
"We were unhappy about certain things going forward,"
commented Jordan. "It came to a head a bit after Silverstone."
"There were several things I was unhappy about and we just
couldn't agree," Jordan said. "The future of the team is
everything to me. I have to think about what will deliver the
best results for our sponsors, our drivers and our staff, me
included.
"And I have to be sure I go down the path that is going to
give is the best chance of a result."
The team boss said he hoped time would heal the rift between
him and Frentzen.
"Hopefully time will mend the wound but often people see it
in different ways," he said.
"There was just a range of things that I needed to do going
forward...on the basis of that I made a decision that the best
thing for both of us was to terminate the agreement."
"Let's hope that what has happened rebounds to be the best
for Jordan and the best for Heinz," he added.
"Heinz has, I would hope, a long racing career in front of
him but that's up to him."
Jordan said that sometimes "short term pain can lead to long
term gain" and also dismissed suggestions that the team had been
too soft on their drivers in the past.
"Maybe some people said we were too soft at the beginning
and too easy going but we have never changed in terms of our
attitude," he said.
Jordan's engines are provided by Japanese carmaker Honda,
who also work with British American Racing (BAR), and the two
are fighting for supremacy on the track.
Last season's sixth place overall was a major disappointment
for Jordan after finishing third in 1999, and caused Jordan to
cancel the team's Christmas party.
Jordan, an enthusiastic party-goer not known for cancelling
celebrations, said that with six races to go it was still too
early to write off this year's Christmas bash.
"We could have a complete disaster for the rest of the
season or we could win a race," he said.
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