Paul Jolly: Legacy of 'irreverent' Eddie Jordan

Eddie Jordan, F1’s flamboyant Irish team owner, has died of aggressive prostate cancer aged just 76.

He led his team to four victories over 15 years and was one of the best liked team principals in the sport.

Eddie had an outspoken and mischievous charisma with an irreverent manner that lightened all who worked with him.

His team famously gave Michael Schumacher his F1 debut in 1991, but he had not tightened up the contract sufficiently, and Schumacher got poached for the next season by Benetton.

Jordan never let anyone trip him up again after that, and he enjoyed a highly successful business career of investments and entrepreneurship outside of F1. He also brought a rock and roll element to F1, often playing in his rock band, Eddie and the Robbers, after Grand Prix races.

The Jordan team scored a 1st and 2nd team victory with ex-F1 champion Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher, brother to Michael Schumacher, in 1998 at Spa. This was not some fluke due to the disastrous crash on lap one caused by David Coulthard, which took out thirteen cars.

Described as F1’s Big Pile-Up, the start was made void, and all but four cars restarted, so Damon and Ralf had to earn their victory places up against Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen and many other big names. In the dying stages of the race, Ralf Schumacher was clearly the faster of the two and radioed that he wanted to take the lead.

Damon Hill radioed back saying the team risked either no driver winning or achieving a one-two as long as they held position. The implication being clear that he would take Ralf out should he try to overtake. Jordan then issued team orders to hold position, and the rest is history.

An angry older brother, however, bought his younger sibling out of the Jordan contract for £2 million, and so Ralf went to Williams in 1999.

Jordan Racing was sold in 2005 and became Force India, then Racing Point and now Aston Martin, operating in Jordan’s old Silverstone premises. A nice legacy.