This is the story of Eddie Jordan (EJ) who passed away on 20th March and in a world of billionaires struggling to enter F1, this guy had the balls to build a F1 team all by himself. From scratch! Just three people formed the technical department of this infant team. Today, not even the social media management of each team is more than 3.
- The Early Life of Eddie Jordan:
Eddie Jordan was born in Ireland and since he was a little child, he was selling fruits in his classroom at a profit. From that money, he bought himself a kart and fell in love with racing. He won the Irish championship in his first attempt in 1971 and went on to race Le Mans and F3.
- Eddie Jordan Grand Prix:
Upon the birth of his second child and having money constraints, he decided to start his own racing team called the Eddie Jordan Racing. A very financially-viable decision for sure. He combined his passion for racing and business. He hired Gary Anderson, an experienced designer and engineer for aerodynamics. With his skill of persuasion and marketing, he brought in millions by securing sponsorship deals from big brands! They built the Jordan 191, considered to be the most beautiful F1 car of all time with the 7Up livery.
But, in the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, disaster struck. One of their drivers got sent to jail for a fight between a London cab driver. And the replacement for him was to be a young rookie named Michael Schumacher. This was the team where Michael Schumacher introduced himself to the F1 world as he qualified an impressive P7. However, the Benetton team stole Schumacher to their team by exposing some loopholes in their contract. The Mclaren CEO said to Eddie Jordan, “Welcome to the Piranha Club!” And since then, this has gone down to be an iconic line.
Everyone expected this new team to be lapped by the big boys. But, this team, guided solely by the spirit and positive charisma of EJ finished 1-2 in the ‘98 Belgian Grand Prix. They briefly challenged for the championship in the 1999 season too.
- Later Stages in F1:
EJ was a master at knowing and connecting with people. After selling his sinking ship for 60 million dollars, he became a commentator for BBC and broke the news of Michael Schumacher’s return to F1 with Mercedes in 2010, and that Lewis Hamilton was bound for the same team for 2013. The last deal of Eddie was Adrian Newey’s exit from Red Bull to Aston Martin for a huge paycheck and also a shareholding in AM. It is so ironic that the last deal of his life was with Aston Martin. Jordan turned into Midland, Spyker, Force India, Racing Point and Aston Martin today.
EJ was a breath of fresh air in a sport which is as ruthless and money-minded as Formula 1. For sure, we need more EJ’s in F1 to make it any kids’ dream irrespective of financial constraints! This guy dreamt and with his entrepreneurial instincts and charismatic personality became the face of F1!
