FORMULA ONE: Eddie Jordan confirmed his reputation as Formula One's canniest and most unpredictable deal-maker yesterday by announcing his team had secured a three-year works engine partnership with Ford, beginning in 2003.

The deal has been one of the paddock's hottest rumours for several months but in recent weeks it looked like Jordan's chances of securing the partnership had gone south as Ford appeared to go cold on the deal and rumours from Japan suggested Honda were less than keen to break their contract if the resultant penalty payments were used by Jordan to buy in Cosworth customer powerplants.

Even as late as Friday, Niki Lauda, boss of Ford-backed Jaguar, said the deal on offer to Jordan was for customer engines in a similar arrangement to that under which Arrows raced until this weekend.

"What Niki said on Friday is nothing close to what we have with Ford," said an ebullient Jordan yesterday, "and to have said that was very rash. We have signed a deal with Ford itself for Cosworth engines. The Ford blue oval will be on the car and the team will be known as Jordan-Ford. There is no question of payment. This is a partnership, with a team of people at Cosworth dedicated to Jordan and the engine we will use will be called the Ford-Cosworth RS. It has nothing to do with Jaguar."

The team had been hoping to make the announcement later this week but minutes before Jordan called an informal briefing in the team's motorhome yesterday Honda issued a statement saying it had released the Irish team from its partnership deal, and was focusing its efforts on the British American Racing team.

Jordan was quick to point out Honda had not broken their contract with his team and that there would no penalties on either side.

"We requested that in the interests of Jordan and Formula One that Honda release us from our contract and we are extremely grateful that they have given us this opportunity for a new partnership with Ford," said Jordan.

The truth is the dissolution of the deal was, by yesterday, mutually beneficial. Until late last week and even early into the Hungarian race weekend the likelihood of Jordan securing a works Ford engine supply was fragile and a continuation of their relationship with Honda still looked likely, with Honda unwilling to release Jordan and incur penalties that would allow Jordan to buy in Cosworths. Jordan likewise would have been less than inspired by a deal along the lines of the Arrows one.

The deal with Ford has provided all concerned with a win-win situation. Jordan secure works engines, while Honda are freed from a deal in which they would have been forced to continue to supply two teams, a situation that has been technically enervating for them over the past two years.

Jordan admitted: "I have to say I'm a little bit surprised at how quickly it has all happened. It has all been brought forward a little and the Ford signatures only came through yesterday. I am enormously happy and proud to call the Jordan-Ford and I think this says two great things: it means we have security but also that we also have longevity. This is a deal for three years and I'm just rejoicing in the news that Ford is publicly coming back into Formula One."

Ford's partnership with Jordan and the dissolution of the team's deal with Honda is likely to spell disaster for the Irish team's number two driver, Takuma Sato, however. The Japanese has strong ties to the motor manufacturer and Ford's arrival could see him expelled from Jordan at the close of a season which has been a tale of too much too young. Sato has finished just five of the 13 races contested and half of his failures have come from accidents or spins and frustration with the young Japanese driver has grown during the season and he may be set for a return to a testing role at Honda-powered BAR where he started his F1 career.

Yesterday, Eddie Jordan insisted Sato had a contract for 2003, but added, "When the dust settles we'll discuss it as, of course, he's also part of the Honda dream and if we get a specific request to release him we will do so. At the moment I have no plans to do that."

The deal with Ford could also reopen the "Irvine to return to Jordan" rumours. Eddie Irvine has three years experience with Cosworth engineers which could be used as a bargaining chip in any discussion with Jordan. But that is all for another day as Jordan basks in the glory of a deal that even last week looked unlikely.