By Phil Giles
May 23 2004

There were mixed fortunes for Jordan at the Monaco Grand Prix with one driver retiring from the race but the other finishing in 7th place scoring Jordan's first points of the season. A spectacular start seemed to predict what was to come.  The race saw four retirements in the first few laps.  Giorgio and Nick both managed to avoid the carnage after David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella collided, however Giorgio retired early in the race with what appeared to be a problem with the Cosworth engine.  Giorgio's car was one of three Cosworth powered vehicles to retire with problems.  Klien stuffed his Jaguar into the Lowes Hairpin and Mark Webber stopped at the Rascass.  Gianmaria Bruni's Minardi was also retired with a problem.

Nick drove an absolute stormer keeping the car away from the barriers and showing what an total star he is. "I can’t tell you how happy I am, scoring not just one but two points. This means a lot for me and also for the team at the moment. I think we employed the right strategy when the safety cars came out. I managed to keep the car on the circuit which was important today as was the fact that we had no mechanical problems."

The TV coverage seemed to show that Giorgio's problem was an engine failure, however the team report that it was a transmission problem.  Giorgio said: "I had a gear problem which was basically that the down-shift function was not working, it was locking in fourth gear. I came into the pits pretty quickly to see if we could fix the problem but it was impossible and I had to stop. Naturally, I’m disappointed that my first Monaco Grand Prix ended this way but thankfully there are not many days to wait until the next chance to race and I’m looking ahead to the European Grand Prix now."

James Robinson commented on the day.  "It turned out to be the exciting and eventful race as we thought it might be seeing some of the strategies from yesterday. It’s difficult to know how it would have worked without the safety cars, as obviously we made very good use of those with two very quick calls to bring Nick in for both pit stops that proved effective in the race. It’s great to get our first two points on the board and to get Nick home. We are disappointed for Giorgio who was running well and would have had a good crack at the points today given the carnage out there."

Eddie was overjoyed for Nick and for former Jordan driver Jarno Trulli who won his first Grand Prix.  "This has been an outstanding day. Firstly I’m overjoyed about Nick’s drive and his getting some points, which we so badly needed. I also want to congratulate Jarno Trulli on his first win. It would be hard to describe how he must be feeling now especially as his first victory has come in Monaco. Jarno has been a good friend to everyone at Jordan and we wish him every success."