Three months ago. The pitlane at Suzuka on the Sunday evening after the Japanese Grand Prix and there is a definite air of school being out. As mini-parties crank into action up and down the paddock as crates of Kirin beer are shouldered onto trestle tables and trays of sushi are carried to crews, the Jordan garage explodes into noise.

A tradition. The last battle cry of a weary warrior, the Jordan 199 is revved within an inch of its highlybred life. A shattering, calamitous last post for the car that has earned the team third in the 1999 constructors' championship.

As the note grows from a bestial roar to a blood curdling, almost 16,000 r.p.m. scream of anguish, the engine is suddenly cut and is followed by a ongratulatory burst of applause and laughter. Job done, time to go home. Time to think about doing it all again.

Eddie Jordan emerges from the garage, tired but smiling, the headmaster finally releasing his students from their eight-month course of studies. He's congratulated by past pupil Ralf Schumacher, by Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw.

He smiles some more and leans on a wall of tyres. It's been a long semester, but his proteges have passed with flying colours.

"It was a good season when you look at it," he reflects. "Yes, it can always be better, the last couple of races weren't so good, it's just one of these things. But Eddie Irvine could say the same, everybody could say the same.

"At the end of the day we've finished third in the constructors' and the drivers' championships and that's great. It's what we had targeted and it's nice to reach your targets."

He smiles again, whispers a conspiratorial "is that good enough? It's all bullshit anyway," and is on his way, lethargy gone, slipping suddenly back into "EJ" mode as he spies fourth-place rival Jackie Stewart and guides the three-time world champion to a quiet table to talk business. Holiday over. Preparations for the new term start here.

And end today. This morning, for Jordan Grand Prix, the short, short Formula One winter break comes to a halt as the team decamps to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London, dresses up, polishes its buttons for the sponsors and unveils its 2000 challenger, the Jordan EJ10, the classification coming from the bosses initials and the fact that this year the team contests its 10th season.

This is all about the business of show, the glamour of unvarnished positivism - if you build it results will come.

"The EJ10 is a notable step forward from its predecessor," waxes a Jordan spokesperson breathlessly. "The step forward made this year is far greater than between 1998 and 1999. The largest development comes in the car's aerodynamics, a result of a 50 per cent increase of time spent in the wind tunnel and a 30 per cent increase in aerodynamic personnel."

And so it goes on. Talking a good game, pushing the sponsors' buttons. This year though it's a little different. This year, more than any other, the high-wattage smiles of hyper-confident salesmanship have to translate rapidly into tangible assets - positions, podiums, points.

At the same affair last year, Jordan shied away from bold predictions; 1998 had been a disaster, rescued at the death by a combination of supreme effort and the deus ex machina windfall of a rain-splattered Belgian Grand Prix which yielded a maiden win.

Beginning the 1999 season, the boss, never previously reticent about talking up his chances, came over all coy. The pressure of winning, he knew, was on. The turnaround which had begun with Ralf Schumacher's and the team's first point of the '98 season at Silverstone, and continued with that victory at Spa, was complete and results lead to expectation.

No more could Jordan play at being cheeky flies in the F1 ointment. Points mean prizes and prizes mean more sponsorship. More money means more resources and better machinery. Better machinery begets better prizes. Pressure.

As it happened, the reticence paid off. From the off the Jordan 199 was a good package, bringing second for new signing Heinz Harald Frentzen at the season opener in Melbourne and third for the German in Brazil. Sure, Damon Hill had crashed out of both races, but it was just teething troubles as the 1996 champion got to grips with the new four-grooved tyres.

But if the maiden win earned by Hill in 1998 had brought pressure, what kind of forces will now be brought to bear after Jordan's most successful year?

Well, for a start, the feeling of being stalked. Not only does the team have to stay focused on keeping in touch and possibly thieving results from the gamekeepers of Ferrari and McLaren, but they must also keep a weather eye out for the pack chasing them. The poachers have also turned into quarry and that hunted feeling will have been only exacerbated by last week's BAR and Jaguar launches. At both the name on everyone's lips was Jordan.

But Jordan cannot afford to merely consolidate third. With new sponsors Deutsche Post coming on board with a figure reputedly almost the match of that currently being paid by major sponsor Benson & Hedges, the need to move onward and upward becomes even more pressing. But edging towards and in front of Ferrari and McLaren will not be an easy task.

Jordan will, however, be aided by two factors. Firstly, the lack of significant rule changes to the competition. With little change to the technical restrictions placed on cars, the 2000 challengers are likely, by and large, to be refinements of last year's technology, leaving little room for one team to make a great leap forward.

Jordan, with a new carbon gearbox, claim to have reduced the weight of the EJ10 significantly, and they are talking of significant aerodynamic advances. If that is the case, then moving towards the elevated territory of the big two seems entirely possible.

The team will also benefit from the arrival of young Italian driver Jarno Trulli from Prost. Of the 61 points scored by Jordan in 1999, 54 came from Frentzen, with the troubled Damon Hill picking up just seven on his way to retirement at Suzuka. Trulli (25), widely regarded as a sure and fast driver, has solid experience from Minardi where he began his F1 career before switching to Prost to replace the injured Olivier Panis midway through the 1997 season.

Certainly, as the F1 circus begins to gather its wagons and unleash its latest high-powered attractions, Jordan is in confident mood.

"We're aiming at Ferrari and McLaren," said Eddie Jordan last week. "We're looking for podium finishes and race wins, nothing else. We've moved from sixth to third in the constructors' championship since 1995 and we're looking to continue that progression.

"Up until recently Jordan Grand Prix wasn't even in the best of the rest category, but now we're third. It will be difficult, but we're chasing the top two and when Ferrari and McLaren slip up we want to be right there to capitalise. In fact, we don't want to be just picking up the pieces, we want to be pushing them all the way."

School is back in session and Jordan are looking to be the new kings of the playground. With quiet confidence replacing the maverick braggadocio of former years, and with artful dodgery giving way to solid power, it could turn out to be foolish to argue with them.