By Nikki Reynolds, F1 Editor - Motorsport.com

It seems that any chance that Jos Verstappen and Jordan could agree on a
contract is now over, according to reports on February 5th. Negotiations
between the two stalled recently but Verstappen was still the favourite to
take the second seat at Jordan as teammate to the already-confirmed Nick
Heidfeld.

Jordan was testing at Silverstone this week and launched the new EJ14 in a
quiet pit-lane event. Verstappen was not present at the launch but the car
has been running with the Trust logo, Jos' major sponsor.

The company had agreed to Jordan running with its logos -- presumably
anticipating a contract for Verstappen was in the works -- but was adamant
that it was a "no Jos, no Trust" situation.

"If Jos is not driving for Jordan then Trust will not enter into any
business deal with Jordan and no Trust logos will be on the cars," said
Trust MD Michel Perridon.

That now looks to be the case. Discussions were still going on in private
this week but it appears Verstappen won't be driving a Jordan this season.
"Despite the fact that all parties involved have done their absolute best to
reach agreement, there still remain some contractual obstacles which cannot
be overcome," said a report on the Dutchman's website.

A Trust spokesperson added: "We tried very hard but despite all our time and
hard work we could not find an agreement."




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