Things are different at Jordan. Gone is the razzamatazz display in a swanky London hotel accompanied by scantily clad women. Instead, we were presented with a purpose-built marquee in the grounds of Silverstone. Not very glamorous, no matter what brand of champagne is on offer, but there certainly is method to Eddie's madness. Holding the launch close to the team's base enabled testing to continue up to the day before. Time is tight, and Jordan seems more serious than ever before in its ten years of Formula One.

Now don't take that to mean that Jordan is going to become a sterile company, losing its character and renowned sense of fun. Indeed, Eddie Jordan himself emphasised this point, and called the fun factor that characterises the Jordan team as a veil over the true intent - to win the F1 World Championship.

That goal may not be realised in 2001, but third place certainly should. As it was last year, when the team was beset by reliability problems. Reliability should not be Jordan's pet gremlin this year. The biggest hurdles will be BMW-Williams and perhaps more importantly, BAR-Honda. I think Honda have done a very clever thing in supplying two aspiring teams with identical works engines. Competition between the two will be fierce and may well accelerate Honda's ambition to be back at the top.

Honda was represented at the launch by Takefumi Hosaka. Charismatic and eloquent (in the English language I mean) he may not be, but he certainly was enjoying the Jordan way. Morale is high. The car looks good and promises more, thanks to the skills of Tim Holloway. Talking to a few of the staff not usually seen in the public eye, they too believe that things will be different this year.