Former Jordan designer Gary Anderson has warned his old employers not to expect victory to become a regular occurrence in 1999.
Anderson, now technical director for the Stewart Ford team, said Jordan's 1999 car was a "surprising development" and "not the route I would have taken". He was speaking at the launch of RTE and Eircell's television coverage of the upcoming season.
"The car is an evolution of last year's, and as such will be competitive in Melbourne, which, after all, is just an extension of Suzuka last season," said the Ulsterman, "but you have to reckon that McLaren and Ferrari will keep pushing and pushing and will go away from Jordan.
Anderson also tipped McLaren to be the team to beat again this season. "They will be very strong again," he said. "I don't think Ferrari will do it. Michael (Schumacher) is exceptional and Eddie Irvine is very good, but there's something about Ferrari's set-up that doesn't work."
Of his own Stewart team, Anderson was hopeful of a good start to the season, which begins on March 7th in Australia, and admitted he is delighted to working with another Jordan alumnus, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.
"It's great to be working with Rubens again," he said. "In the years he has been away from Jordan he has matured greatly.
"We also have a car which is proving to be very good. We have a powerful engine, which is 30 kilos lighter than last year's, and while we have had a few technical problems they are only small and will get sorted out. We only had four days testing at Barcelona last week, while the other teams had 10, and we still went out and set the second fastest time."
Anderson split from Jordan last year after designer Mike Gascoyne had been brought in to work with the Ulsterman and was not present in Belgium for the team's historic one-two victory at Spa Francorchamps last season. But last night he said his decision to leave had nothing to do with team owner Eddie Jordan.
"Eddie is a good friend of mine and my decision to leave was not his fault. I would like to think that some day Eddie will realise what I have to offer and that we can work together again, but maybe not in this life."
