Gary Anderson has his hands full

It appears, however, that there may other reasons for the decision. Multiple staff losses and role changes with the design and development team has lead to some unrest within the Irish outfit and this could mean that they are behind schedule and would not be able to launch earlier, even if they wanted to.

Eddie Jordan has brought back Gary Anderson to the team as Director of Race and Test Engineering, but it is thought his first task will be to manage the development of the 2002 challenger.

Four senior engineers have left Jordan since the season�s end to join Mike Gascoyne, the former Jordan chief designer, at Renault. Bob Bell, Chris Cooney, Bob Halloway and John Iley have already left, and will now be working under Gascoyne at the British-French team.

Gascoyne had earlier, at the start of the 2001 season, hired long-time Jordan designer Mark Smith as well, so the Renault engineering staff now includes no fewer than six senior ex-Jordan engineers and designers.

The expected ongoing development of the EJ11 had stalled in mid season under the direction of technical director, Egbahl Hamidy so he has now been relegated to managing the aerodynamic program only, with Tim Holloway managing the engineering team.