THESE ARE testing times for Jordan with morale at a low ebb.

The departure last week of Dubliner John Walton, the team manager, to Arrows, and the absence from races of the designer Gary Anderson are all aspects of a team in crisis.

However, the team have gone through far worse spells in terms of results - they only scored four points in 1992 and 1993 but in the past a major element was always missing. Now they have a works engine that appears to be very good, funding from Benson & Hedges and certainly Rubens Barrichello showed great talent on occasions.

The consensus is that Jordan have a chassis problem and certainly Barrichello is now disillusioned: "I just can't make it go any faster. Every lap is a battle to stay on.

Some would see the present posit ion as the twilight of the small team Jordan, where they used 70 hard working and talented people to challenge the might of the 200 man Big Four team, and the dawning of the new Big team Jordan era.

Jordan are blessed in having a loyal and knowledgeable sponsor in Benson & Hedges and the Belfastman Nigel Northridge is the man in charge: "The team have good plans for next year. This year has been difficult but next year will be a lot different," he said.

Spa Francochamps sees the drivers market at it's most volatile as dozens of hopefuls chase the 20 possible seats. Neither of the current Jordan drivers are expected to continue with the team, but this can always change.

Eddie Jordan is talking to a lot of other drivers and he described the selection process, which in the past made him choose Schumacher, Alesi, Irvine and others. "The most important element is speed," he said. "Although mental discipline is a close second. Winning is as much an attitude of mind as physical ability. Technical ability is now less important because the telemetry tells the engineers what is happening to the car."

What about money? "It is import ant of course. In the early days we could only take drivers who brought sponsorship to the team. Luckily in recent times we can afford to pick drivers on merit. Of course we are not in a position to pay the huge salaries, but the amount we spend is going up all the time and so is the choice of driver."

Both Heinze Harald Frenzen and Ralf Schumacher have had discussions with Jordan and their nationality can do no harm.