According to reports in Autosport, Mark Smith, who was recently appointed technical director of the Jordan Grand Prix team, has opted not to remain under the new Midland management and resigned from his newly appointed role on Friday morning.
Smith, who had only become an official member of the team two months ago, made the switch from the RenaultF1 team in what was thought to be a stop over before joining Mike Gascoyne at Toyota and the decision to leave Jordan so soon came totally out of the blue, especially to Eddie Jordan who was thrilled to have him backj on board this season as they made the move from Ford to Toyota engines.
According to the British publication, Mark Smith is not the only employee unhappy with the takeover with members of the aerodynamic staff, engineers and senior mechanics also leaving, some under their own steam, others as part of restructuring.
Ironically enough, reminiscent of that day several years ago when Eddie Jordan sent Heinz-Harald Frentzen a fax informing him of his dismissal from the team just days prior to his home Grand Prix in Germany, Smith reportedly informed the Irishman of his decision by leaving a message on his answering machine.
;)
