Eddie Jordan yesterday revealed that his Jordan F1 team did not offer a drive for the 2004 season to Dutchman Jos Verstappen because of the high demands of the driver's agent.
Jordan completed their driver line-up last week when they unveiled Italian rookie Giorgio Pantano as Nick Heidfeld's partner for the up-coming season.
However many expectred Verstappen to ge given the seat and bring some much needed sponsorship money to Jordan's outfit, and despite positive talks with the potential sponsors, the talks broke down because of Verstappen's agent.
"The team had excellent negotiations with Michel Perridon of Trust and Harrie Muermans of the Muermans Group. However the hard work of these two loyal sponsors was undone by the intransigence of Huub Rothengatter, manager of Jos Verstappen," the F1 team said in a statement on their website.
"(Rothengatter) at all time insisted on taking an exorbitant commission on sponsorship introduced to the team or an outrageous wage. At the same time all requests by the team for Verstappen to have a seat fitting and fitness assessment were rejected."
Filed by Rob Wright
