In Japan last year, Eddie Jordan predicted that the recession would affect teams' finances, and for a while, it seemed that no one seemed to be suffering more than Jordan (apart from Prost) as the new season approached. At the team's late-late launch, Eddie Jordan, however, was trying hard to tell everyone that everything was fine and dandy as he announced DHL, a subsidiary of established sponsors Deutsche Post. But Benson and Hedges had stepped down as title sponsors and had clearly reduced their contributions to the team's budget.

The team's new car appeared fairly late in February. There was a low-key late launch. An unknown German driver had tested the car in order to please Deutsche Post. Furthermore, there had been rumours that new technical director Eghbal Hamidy was not a success and could be replaced by Pat Symonds from Benetton/Renault. In spite of claims of stability, it all looks somewhat unstable.

Max Mosley said recently that there are some teams which are in trouble financially, but they are keeping quiet, because immediately there are financial worries, the creditors gather, demanding their money. He could well have been talking about Jordan, but the team, one feels, is going to keep its head above water whatever happens.

It has never been a particularly extravagant team. Ron Dennis did suggest that Eddie Jordan puts much of the excess funds into his pocket, but that pocket is just going to have go empty for a while - or relatively empty as far as Eddie is concerned.

The team isn't heading for an easy time. They have two new drivers, one of whom has no Grand Prix experience - Takuma Sato. There are rumours that Eddie had flown to Japan to encourage Honda to provide a more competitive engine. Neither Jordan nor BAR, the two Honda users, are where they want to be - although team returnee Giancarlo Fisichella has been quickest in testing. It's all looking just a little fragile.

The team even started its first test at Barcelona two days after everyone else on January 9 with two EJ11s. Fisichella seemed to excel in last year's car, but Sato had trouble making himself comfortable in the car. The new car appeared on January 21 and was initially tested in inclement weather at Silverstone before being sent to Barcelona. Both Sato and Fisichella suffered accidents, the Japanese driver having a particularly nasty one when the axle broke at 250kph.

The pair continued to develop the new car, and slowly it picked up speed, but it isn't where the team is hoping to be as they begin the new season. Eddie, as ever, puts on a brake face, but Jordan should be among that battle for fourth place in the championship, but like many others, there are chinks in the team's armour that suggest they may find it hard. This could be a year of reconciliation.

Bob Constanduros