Formula one is big business. Big corporate business. So, it was ineveitable that the MBAs and management consultants should arrive even at a such as Jordan which had always projected an image rather less corporate than that of McLaren. Whether or not this would be helpful would of course be shown up in the teams results in the 2002 season.

One long running affair that finally seemed to have reached a conclusion was the row over Toyota's winter testing plans. The teams racing in 2001 faced a ban from the last race of the season on October the 14th until the end of December. Toyota argued that, as they had not been racing, they should not be subject to the same ban as they would not be in the world championship until the first of January by which thime the ban would no longer apply. In the end, a compromise deal was hammered out. Toyota could test until they actually made their entry for the championship. That would be on the 15th of November so they could get one month's extra testing but they would then have to follow the ban. The whole deal left a fair chunk of bad feeling between the teams and Toyota.