 | |
| Full name | Jordan Grand Prix |
|---|---|
| Base | Silverstone,Northamptonshire, England |
| Founder(s) | Eddie Jordan |
| Noted staff | Gary Anderson Adrian Burgess Mike Gascoyne John Iley Sam Michael Rob Smedley Mark Gallagher |
| Noted drivers |  Rubens Barrichello Giancarlo Fisichella Jean Alesi Michael SchumacherHeinz-Harald FrentzenJarno TrulliRalf Schumacher Damon HillEddie Irvine Tiago MonteiroNick Heidfeld Takuma SatoMartin Brundle Bertrand GachotTimo Glock Narain Karthikeyan |
| Next name | Midland F1 Racing |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1991 United States Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 250 |
| Engines | Ford,Yamaha,Hart,Peugeot,Mugen-Honda,Honda,Toyota |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 (best finish: 3rd,1999) |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 (best finish: 3rd,1999,Frentzen) |
| Race victories | 4 |
| Podiums | 19 |
| Pole positions | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 2 |
| Final entry | 2005 Chinese Grand Prix |
Jordan Grand Prix was aFormula One constructor that competed from1991 to2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founderEddie Jordan (1948–2025) and was based atSilverstone, England, but raced with anIrish licence.[1]
In early 2005, the team was sold toMidland Group,[2] who competed for one final season as 'Jordan', before renaming the team asMidland F1 Racing for the2006 season. Later that same year, it was sold to Dutch car manufacturer,Spyker, to becomeSpyker F1 for the2007 season,[3] and then sold again to becomeForce India in2008. In 2018, as a result of thefinancial collapse of the Force India team, and its subsequent buyout by a consortium led byLawrence Stroll, the team'sFIA entry was not transferred, and the Jordan Grand Prix's original entry came to an end.[4] As of 2025 the team competes as theAston Martin Aramco F1 Team.
Eddie Jordan had a brief stint as a race driver in the late 1970s before foundingEddie Jordan Racing in the early 1980s.[5] The team first came to prominence in the1983 BritishFormula Three championship with a duel between one-time Jordan test driver[citation needed]Ayrton Senna and Jordan-Ralt driverMartin Brundle. Brundle was edged out by the Brazilian at the last round of the championship. The team graduated toInternational Formula 3000 for1988, winning its first race in the category withJohnny Herbert behind the wheel. In1989, Jordan won the F3000 drivers' championship with future Formula One starJean Alesi. The team also ran future F1 drivers such asMartin Donnelly andEddie Irvine in F3000.
Jordan's success in lower formulae inspired the creation of aFormula One programme for the1991 season and a change of name to Jordan Grand Prix. The first driver to test a Jordan F1 car wasJohn Watson. Jordan hiredItalian veteranAndrea de Cesaris and BelgianBertrand Gachot to race his first cars, which were powered byFord. The team had a very solid debut finishing 5th in theConstructors' Championship, with de Cesaris finishing 9th in theDrivers' Championship. De Cesaris ran second for much of the Belgian Grand Prix, and was actually gaining on leader Ayrton Senna until the car failed in the closing laps. Gachot was sent to prison mid-season for attacking a taxi driver, and was replaced for theBelgian Grand Prix byMichael Schumacher. The team received $150,000 fromMercedes-Benz in return for giving their young German sportscar star experience of Grand Prix racing.[6] Despite Jordan's agreement in principle with Mercedes to retain Schumacher for the remainder of the season, the German driver signed toBenetton-Ford for the following race. Jordan applied for an injunction in the UK courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they had not yet signed a contract.[7] Ousted Benetton driverRoberto Moreno and futureChamp Car title winnerAlessandro Zanardi filled the second car afterwards. Success for Jordan literally came at a high price. The team was forced to switch to cheaperYamaha engines for the1992 season. WithMaurício Gugelmin andStefano Modena driving, the team struggled badly and failed to score a point until the final race of the season.
1993 saw further changes, with the team switching engine suppliers, this time toHart. Again, the season started with two new drivers,Ivan Capelli and Brazilian rookieRubens Barrichello. Capelli left after two races and five other drivers teamed with Barrichello during the 1993 campaign. Jordan only had moderate improvement, scoring three points. Signs of stability were beginning to show near the end of the season when Barrichello was joined byEddie Irvine, a former Jordan driver in F3000. Irvine finished sixth and secured a point on his debut Formula One race atSuzuka, memorably unlapping himself againstMcLaren'sAyrton Senna, in order to overtakeDamon Hill. After the race finished, an incensed Senna, infuriated by what he deemed as unsafe racing by Irvine in poor weather conditions, stormed into the Jordan garage and punched Irvine in the face after Irvine pushed him in a heated discussion.[8]
Barrichello and Irvine returned for the1994 season, as did the Hart engines, but Irvine had a bad start to the season, earning a three-race ban for reckless driving. Barrichello earned the team their first top three finish in Japan at the Pacific Grand Prix, but was nearly killed during the following race inSan Marino in a frightening qualifying crash. The team overcame these difficulties and returned to their initial form, repeating its fifth place finish in the Constructors' Championship with 28 points,[9] a notable achievement from a low budget team with an engine designed and built by Darrell O'Brien/Hart Engineering. Barrichello earned Jordan's first pole position after a gamble during a wet qualifying session in Belgium, and finished 6th in the Drivers' Championship with 19 points.
Jordan switched to full-worksPeugeot power in1995 after one season withMcLaren team who switched to worksMercedes-Benz engines. During theCanadian Grand Prix that year, both Barrichello and Irvine finished on the podium, finishing second and third respectively. It was the highlight to an unspectacular but relatively solid year for Jordan, as they hung around mid-pack to finish 6th in the Championship.[citation needed]
When Irvine left in1996 to become Michael Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari, Jordan replaced him with veteranMartin Brundle, the ex-Le Mans winner and World Sportscar Champion. The team failed to make the podium, but both drivers managed to score a string of fourth-place finishes as the team scored yet another 5th among the constructors. 1996 also saw the team adopt their bright-yellow colour scheme which would become their trademark.[citation needed]
1997 saw the departure of both drivers from the previous year. Barrichello left for the newly formedStewart Grand Prix, whilst Brundle became a Formula One commentator forITV. Jordan replaced them withItalianGiancarlo Fisichella, who had raced forMinardi the previous year, and youngRalf Schumacher, Michael's brother. Again, the team finished 5th in the Championship, with Fisichella achieving two podium finishes. At Hockenheim, Fisichella had led the race, but lost out toGerhard Berger before retiring when a puncture holed his car's radiator. The Italian's other highlight was scoring the fastest race lap at the Spanish Grand Prix. A lowlight of the season came in Argentina when Ralf Schumacher took out his Italian teammate during the race, which was tempered by Ralf's first podium.[citation needed]
In1998, the team made its biggest signing as former World ChampionDamon Hill, a graduate of Jordan'sF3000 programme, replaced Fisichella. The team also replaced its Peugeots, which went toProst, withMugen Honda motors. Up to the halfway point of the season, Jordan had failed to score a single point due to reliability problems. At that point, they signed Mike Gascoyne from Tyrrell to bolster the technical team and long-standing technical director Gary Anderson resigned a few months after.[10][11] Things improved greatly towards the end of the season and at that year's rain-soakedBelgian Grand Prix in which only six cars finished, Hill earned Jordan their first ever Formula One win, which was also Hill's 22nd career Grand Prix victory. Ralf Schumacher sweetened the victory by finishing second. However, it was later revealed to be team orders – Schumacher had been ordered not to pass Hill. Angered by this, his brother Michael told Jordan that Ralf would never race for the team again and subsequently bought out his brother's contract for 2 million pounds, this satisfied Jordan due to the scandal and manner of Michael's own switch from Jordan to Benetton back in 1991.[12] Hill finished 6th in the drivers' standings with Ralf 10th. Hill's last lap, last-corner move onHeinz-Harald Frentzen at Suzuka enabled him to finish the race in fourth and also earned Jordan fourth in the Constructors' Championship for 1998 (this was tempered by speculation that Frentzen had "gifted" the place to Hill, the German having confirmed a move to Jordan for 1999, after a tumultuous career with Williams).
With Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher swapping teams for1999 (Frentzen at Jordan and Ralf atWilliams), the season would turn out to be a nightmare for Hill, who was to retire at the end of the season. However, Frentzen's season was immensely successful, with the German earning two victories and a pole position. For a short while Frentzen had entertained thoughts of a world title, but poor luck and greater speed from McLaren and Ferrari ended his hopes. Frentzen finished third in the Drivers' Championship and the team also finished third amongst the Constructors'. 1999 was to be the team's finest season.
For2000 Hill was replaced byJarno Trulli, fresh from a couple of years atProst andMinardi. His qualifying speed in particular impressed, but he was unable to score a podium. Frentzen was unable to replicate the success of 1999 and the team slipped back to 6th in the Constructors' Championship. The team had been on course for major points atMonaco, but poor luck intervened: Trulli was ahead of eventual winner David Coulthard until his gearbox failed, while Frentzen running in second place hit the wall at Sainte Devote with only eight laps to go. The 2000 season saw the team achieve just two podiums all season, two third places courtesy of Frentzen in Brazil and the United States.
Both drivers returned to start2001 and Jordan switched to worksHonda engines which were already being supplied to rival teamBAR after Mugen left the sport at the end of 2000. This led to a battle for the right to use the Honda engines in the long term. Frentzen was released from the team in mid-season, a series of disagreements with team boss Eddie Jordan a possible explanation. Jordan himself has said that he dropped Frentzen to bring inTakuma Sato for 2002, an attempt to satisfy Honda. Frentzen was replaced by test driverRicardo Zonta at theGerman Grand Prix, but from thereafterJean Alesi, in the final stages of his Formula One career, took the seat. Amidst all the turmoil, Trulli finished in the points four times, and the team finished 5th in the Constructors' Championship for the fifth time, ahead of rivals BAR but failed to score a single podium during a Grand Prix season for the first time since 1993.
Jordan re-organised in2002, with Fisichella returning andTakuma Sato joining the team, thanks in no small part to Honda's influence. Due to a drop in sponsorship money (despiteDHL joining the team as a title sponsor in addition to Benson & Hedges) the team slipped down the pecking order on the grid. Fisichella often qualified well, a sixth place on the grid inMontreal and a fifth place on the grid inBudapest. Yet results-wise, the Italian had to make do with a trio of fifth places and a sixth place from Hungary. Sato showed flashes of promise, but managed just two points athis home race. Despite the drop in form, Jordan still managed sixth in the championship, two places ahead of main rivals BAR.
For2003,Honda left Jordan to concentrate on their partnership withBAR. Jordan had to make do withFordCosworth engines, and the season was not regarded as a success. Despite beating onlyMinardi to score 9th in the standings, Jordan won in 2003. This came under bizarre circumstances in theBrazilian Grand Prix which was affected by rain. Following a massive accident on the start/finish straight, the race was red flagged and stopped. After some initial confusion,Giancarlo Fisichella was initially ruled to have finished second behindKimi Räikkönen who took the top step on the podium. However, anFIA inquiry several days later led to Fisichella being officially declared the winner of his first F1 race. Fisichella was therefore unable to celebrate his first career victory on the top step of the podium, although he and Räikkönen swapped their drivers' trophies in an impromptu ceremony at the followingrace in San Marino, whileMcLaren'sRon Dennis handed over the constructors' trophy toEddie Jordan. Aside from the opportunistic win, neither Fisichella nor rookie teammateRalph Firman were able to achieve any sort of success in theirEJ13s. After Firman was injured in practice for theHungarian Grand Prix Jordan fielded the first everHungarian Formula One driver,Zsolt Baumgartner. Firman returned for the final two events, but was unable to add to the point he won in Spain. Fisichella only managed two points on top of his victory and unhappy at the team's form he departed forSauber.
In June 2003 Jordan sued mobile phone companyVodafone for £150 million, claiming that the company had made a verbal contract for a three-year sponsorship, then given it toFerrari instead. Jordan withdrew the action two months later, agreeing to pay Vodafone's costs. This was a double financial blow from which the team never recovered. The judge was highly critical ofEddie Jordan, branding the allegations against Vodafone "without foundation and false".[13]
In2004, Jordan struggled financially, and their status for the future was questionable. The team fieldedGermanNick Heidfeld, formerly of Sauber and Prost, andItalian rookieGiorgio Pantano. Ex-F3000 champion Heidfeld showed promise, but could not achieve many good results due to the car's initial pace being poor. Pantano's season was dogged by sponsorship problems. He missedCanada due to a lack of funding, withTimo Glock stepping in to replace him. Glock managed to score two points on his debut, finishing just ahead of Heidfeld, although these had been earned after the twoToyota andWilliams cars had been disqualified for brake duct irregularities. Later in the season, Glock replaced Pantano permanently. As in theprevious season, the team finished ahead of onlyMinardi at the bottom of the constructors standings.
AfterFord's decision to putCosworth up for sale, Jordan had been left without an engine deal for2005. However, at short notice,Toyota agreed to supply Jordan with customer RVX-05 engines identical to those in theworks Toyota cars as a paid lease agreement instead of free of charge. In 2005 after a constructors' meeting at Heathrow, Bernie Ecclestone introducedAlex Schnaider to Eddie Jordan. Six weeks later Eddie Jordan had sold the team to theMidland Group for $60 million. The day the dealwas signed Eddie sat in Ian Phillips' office and was in tears.[14]
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The Jordan name was retained for the2005 season, before being changed toMidland MF1 Racing for the2006 season. Throughout 2005, journalists questioned whether Midland were in Formula One for the long haul. Rumours circulated throughout the season that the team was for sale, and that former driverEddie Irvine was interested in buying them. The year also saw the debut of two new rookie drivers,Narain Karthikeyan andTiago Monteiro. 2005 merely confirmed Jordan's status at the back of the grid. A final podium came in thehighly controversial race at Indianapolis, with Monteiro leading home a Jordan 3–4 after most rivals did not start. Monteiro managed an excellent eighth place at Spa in wet conditions to give the team its last point. Thefinal race for the team saw a low-key exit, with Monteiro finishing 11th and Karthikeyan crashing out spectacularly.
Jordan Grand Prix was notable for providing the debut to a number of drivers who subsequently enjoyed considerable F1 and wider motor-racing careers. This was due to both Eddie Jordan's experience managing the careers of drivers (most notablyJean Alesi) before entering his own team to F1, and the team's ongoing need for funding which new drivers frequently brought via personal sponsorship. Notably successful drivers who began their F1 careers with Jordan include multiple World ChampionMichael Schumacher (1991),Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) ChampionAlex Zanardi (1991), F1 race winnersRubens Barrichello (1993),Eddie Irvine (1993), andRalf Schumacher (1997), andIndy 500 winnerTakuma Sato (2002). The close-knit and relaxed atmosphere of the team also allowed drivers who had failed to achieve expectations with other teams to perform at their best. Most notably,Heinz-Harald Frentzen won two races to challenge for the 1999 World Championship, something he had failed to do for the much more competitiveWilliams team in 1997.Andrea de Cesaris rehabilitated his reputation from that of a 'crasher' to become a dependable driver during his season with the team in 1991, andJarno Trulli,Giancarlo Fisichella andNick Heidfeld each used their time at Jordan Grand Prix to show potential and be recruited by larger teams.
As well as giving both Michael and Ralf Schumacher their F1 debuts, Jordan benefited from Germany's growing interest in Formula One during the 1990s and early 2000s, with the other notable German drivers of the era (Frentzen, Heidfeld, andTimo Glock) all driving for the team andDeutsche Post World Net being a major sponsor of the team from 2000 to 2003.
In 1991, the team was sponsored by soft drink brand7 Up, but despite the team's moderately successful first season and Eddie Jordan saying the team had "more than fulfilled our part of the bargain",[15] the sponsorship was replaced by South African energy companySasol until 1994, withBarclay supplementing until 1993. In the team's first year with Peugeot engines, fuel supplierTotal was the title sponsor in 1995.
From 1996 to 2005,Benson & Hedges was the primary sponsor of Jordan. At races where the ban on cigarette advertising was in force, the name was replaced by "Bitten & Hisses" (in1997 when Jordan's mascot was the snake Hissing Sid) or the names of the team's drivers,Giancarlo Fisichella andRalf Schumacher, with additional 'S's, "Buzzin Hornets" (while the mascot was an unnamed hornet from1998 to2000), "Bitten Heroes" (during2001, when the team's mascot was a shark), and from2002 to2005 'Be On Edge' (BENSON & HEDGES). It was in the sponsor's first year that the team coloured their cars in the gold of their cigarette packet and then switched to yellow after that.
For2002, title sponsorship went to delivery companyDHL, before reverting to Benson & Hedges (which remained a major sponsor in 2002). At the 2004 and 2005 United States Grands Prix,Sobranie was advertised instead; the team (along withScuderia Ferrari) had previously run non-tobacco liveries on previous United States Grands Prix due to U.S.Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement requirements, as a clause in the settlement restrictedPhilip Morris USA (who holds the Benson & Hedges trademark in the United States) to one sponsorship, that ofTeam Penske in American open-wheel racing.[16]
EJ-10 was anenergy drink marketed by the Jordan Formula One team. The energy drink was heavily advertised as free of caffeine and taurine to avoid asugar crash, and as having a fruity flavour and providing energy for up to 90 minutes. It was sold in bright yellow 250 mL and 380 mL bottles, decorated to evoke the image of Jordan'sFormula One cars.[17] Jordan Grand Prix used theSutherland Hawes design agency to create and market the energy drink.[18] At the height of its popularity EJ-10 was available around the world, includingIreland,Germany,Colombia,Ecuador,Saudi Arabia, andMexico.[19][20]
In 2002, the 380 ml bottles of EJ-10 were recalled in Ireland after it was discovered it contained unacceptable levels ofbenzene.[21]
V-10 is a spinoff of EJ-10; it retains the basic formula but addsvodka.[22]
To commemorate the team's successful 1999 campaign powered by Mugen-Honda engines, Honda sold 500 limited editionHonda Civic models called Civic Jordan in the United Kingdom. Based on the EK4 VTi-S hatchback model, the cars were painted Sunlight Yellow and featured yellow-and-black leather interior, Jordan decals on the sides and rear of the car as well as stitched into the seats and floor carpets, and body kit partially based on the Japanese Type-R model. Apart from a signed Eddie Jordan plaque on the cars' centre console, the team had no involvement on the development on the car, which performed otherwise similar to a standard VTi model.
Several books have been published that provided a comprehensive understanding of Jordan Grand Prix. The most comprehensive was the 1994 book Race Without End. Authored by Maurice Hamilton, a seasoned Formula 1 professional, this book chronicles the events and experiences of Jordan Grand Prix during the 1993 season.[23]
Media related toJordan Grand Prix at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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