Thus far, the Jordan team is not commenting on reports that Alex Shnaider, the man behind the proposed Midalnd F1 Team, has bought the Silverstone outfit.

According to reports the deal will be officially announced next weekend.

It's been known for some time that Eddie Jordan was keen on selling his team, although initially he had hoped to retain his role as team pricipal. It was this that allegedly put Red Bull off a deal.

Since then a number of consortiums have looked at the Irish outfit, with most of them proving to be nothing more than 'tyre kickers'.

When Midalnd F1 announced that it was entering F1, Pitpass was critical of the idea of setting up a brand new team, with all the inherent problems, not to say financial outlay, when an existing business, with all the right facilities, was already available.

Arden International boss Christian Horner, showed an interest in buying Jordan, with the aid of a Chinese consortium, but eventually walked away from negotiations and subsequently took over at Red Bull Racing.

It's said that Horner was unhappy with the fact that during discussions, Jordan held talks with Shnaider, effectively playing one against the other, presumably with the intention of driving up the price.

Although no final deal has been signed, it's thought that Jordan would take up the role of Commercial Manager, while Schnaider would assume the position of Team Princiapl. Earlier this week, Jordan revealed that he was condisering a different role within the team for 2005.

Shnaider has already done a deal with Dallara, which will see the Italian company design the 2006 car - which is when the team was originally scheduled to enter F1.

A final word of warning to Eddie Jordan, who is telling the media that the deal will be done next week, remember that other deal with Vodafone and the immortal line, "you've got the deal".

Keep your hair on EJ, the deal's never done until its signed.