Remembering Legendary F1 Team Boss Eddie Jordan

Image: Montage / Curt Smith via Wikimedia Commons, available for distribution under the CC BY 2.0 deed

The 2025 Formula One season is not quite a week old, but just after the first race of the year, the Grand Prix fraternity woke up to sad news: Eddie Jordan has passed away after losing his short battle with cancer.

The Irishman was one of the last great privateer underdogs, and even following the sale of his team in the early 2000s, he was always around F1 as an insider on broadcasts and even hosted his own podcast called ‘Formula For Success’ with David Coulthard – the latest episode was published on the day of the announcement of his passing, March 20, 2025.

Jordan Grand Prix gave a number of Grand Prix greats an opportunity to start their careers, and even almost made it to the very top in 1999 in what would have been the ultimate F1 underdog story. It is only fitting that we take a look back at an exceptional man’s F1 career.

From Racer To Team Boss​

Edmund Patrick Jordan was born on March 30, 1948, in Dublin, Ireland. And despite the career he would later embark on, it was not until he was 22 that he first encountered karting. Previously having considered becoming a priest and working as an accountant for a bank at the time, Jordan quickly immersed himself in the world of racing.

After winning the Irish Karting Championship in 1971, he entered the Irish Formula Ford Championship in 1974, moved up to Formula 3 the following year and then Irish Formula Atlantic in 1977, which he won in 1978. In the years that followed, he would even race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1981, but the BMW M1 he shared with Steve O’Rourke and David Hobbs retired about two hours before the end of the race with engine troubles.

By that point, Eddie Jordan Racing had already been founded, and it would soon become a championship contender in British F3 – in fact, Martin Brundle drove for the team when he battled one Ayrton Senna for the championship in 1983.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Eddie Jordan Racing moved up to Formula 3000, where it fielded a number of drivers that would go on to have successful careers in Formula One, such as Johnny Herbert, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, or Jean Alesi.

Jordan Grand Prix Enters F1​

In 1991, it was time for the team to climb the ladder even further – to Formula One. The team changed its name to Jordan Grand Prix for the occasion, and with drivers, Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot behind the wheels of the Gary Anderson-designed Jordan 191 – considered to be one of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time – the team rocked up to the first race in Phoenix in a distinct green-and-blue livery.

This apparently played an integral role in attracting Fujifilm as a sponsor, as the green used for 7 Up aligned perfectly with the Japanese camera company’s own shade of green. As a result, the brand-new team had very solid backing heading into its first season.

At a time when prequalifying was still a necessity, the two Jordans quickly established that they would move on to the real qualifying session on every occasion following the US GP, where de Cesaris had missed that mark. From the German Grand Prix onwards and with the team having scored ten points until then already, prequalifying was no longer required.

Following the Hungarian Grand Prix, one of the most legendary F1 careers of all started at Jordan – Gachot had to go to prison for an altercation with a taxi driver in London, and Jordan was looking at a certain Michael Schumacher to replace him for Spa. The German was part of the Mercedes Junior program by that time, racing a Group C Sauber-Mercedes in the World Sportscar Championship.

Supposedly, Jordan figured Schumacher knew the track from his sportscar endeavour, which his Manager Willi Weber confirmed – except that was a lie. Not that it bothered Schumacher, who qualified seventh (and ahead of de Cesaris), retired with a clutch problem at the top of Raidillon, and then moved on to Benetton – the rest is history.

Jordan drafted in Roberto Moreno and Alessandro Zanardi to close out the year, then scored a deal for works Yamaha engines for 1992 – a great prospect on paper, as the engines were supplied for free, but their woeful reliability meant the team only scored a single point all season with Stefano Modena and Mauricio Gugelmin in the cars.

Jordan Climbs Up The Ladder​

1993 went much better, having switched to Hart V10 engines and employing the services of Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian quickly showed his speed, while the second car was a revolving door for drivers – before Eddie Irvine got the seat for the final two races, Ivan Capelli, Thierry Boutsen, Marco Apicella and Emanuele Naspetti were in the second Jordan. It may not have shown in the points total, as points were only awarded to the top 6 finishers of a race, but despite only scoring three points, Jordan was on an upward trajectory.

Barrichello and Irvine managed to get the team 28 points in 1994, including its first podium finish at the Pacific Grand Prix. Granted, Aguri Suzuki and de Cesaris helped out when Irvine served a three-race ban, but it was clear that Jordan had found a quick driver pairing in the Brazilian and the Northern Irishman.

This resulted in Peugeot supplying engines from 1995 to 1997, a time in which Jordan Grand Prix firmly established itself as one of the better midfield runners. In addition to Barrichello and Irvine, Brundle, Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher, who made his F1 debut with the team in 1997, raced for Jordan during that time.

For 1998, none other than 1996 World Champion Damon Hill joined the team, and the first season using Mugen-Honda engines became quite successful in the latter half of the season – particularly at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix.

“I looked like a complete leprechaun, didn’t I?”​

The legendarily chaotic rain-soaked race saw Jordan’s cars run 1-2, with Hill up front but Schumacher supposedly faster. Famously, Eddie ordered his drivers to hold their positions after Hill voiced his concerns that if the two raced, they might end up with nothing.

Instead, they brought home Jordan’s first-ever victory, an upset of rather epic proportions. An overjoyed Eddie Jordan was jumping up and down in the pitlane, which he humorously addressed in 2015:

“I looked like a complete leprechaun, didn’t I? A complete idiot. Maybe Ron Dennis was right in calling me a village idiot, but I certainly did on that occasion. The euphoria, the excitement, it just took over. The reality was that it was a day that I should never, ever forget. It was so many things wrapped into those couple of hours, the intrigue, the tension, not believing it could happen, then making sure that the team orders worked because I had to be sure we would finish first and second.“

1999’s Title Challenge​

Leprechaun or not, more occasions for bursting into joyful celebration would follow in 1999, with Frentzen taking three victories and four additional podium finishes. In a season that saw Michael Schumacher miss six races following his Silverstone crash that broke his leg, Frentzen finished consistently high to capitalize on McLaren and Ferrari throwing away good finishes on multiple occasions, meaning he was in the championship hunt until the third-to-last race of the year.

Technical gremlins following a pit stop may have ground that challenge to an agonizing halt, but the strong 1999 season meant that Deutsche Post jumped aboard as a major sponsor for 2000, and even though that year did not go quite as well, Honda-supplied engines in 2001 and 2002.

That time period started a bit of a downward spiral, however, which arguably commenced with Jordan’s falling out with Frentzen, who was sacked right before the German Grand Prix. A 2002 car built on faulty wind tunnel data saw the team slip further down the order, finishing sixth overall and losing the support of Honda, Deutsche Post and DHL as sponsors.

Last Hurrah At Interlagos​

Yet, 2003, now with Ford power, would see one last epic Jordan moment at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix. Held in extremely difficult, rainy conditions, chaos ensued, and when Fernando Alonso crashed heavily after hitting parts of Mark Webber’s shredded Jaguar, the race was stopped – just after Giancarlo Fisichella had overtaken McLaren’s Kimi Räikkönen.
The Italian thought he had finally won his first Formula One race, only for race control to judge that Räikkönen was ahead on the lap prior to the red flag being waved, declaring him the winner. Alonso would have been third, but was getting a medical check-up after his crash – and as Fisichella did later emerge as the winner indeed, the podium at Interlagos that day did not have a single driver on the correct step. To add to the chaos, Fisichella’s car caught fire in the parc fermé.

“It is virtually impossible to say how much it was worth. The fact that we are fifth in the championship at the moment is important, very important, and we want to stay in the top five. If we can stay there, then that is money“, Jordan told Atlas F1 afterwards. Money was indeed an issue that kept becoming bigger, especially since Jordan ended the 2003 season in ninth in the constructor’s standings and lost a legal battle with Vodafone regarding a supposed sponsorship agreement, which turned out to be an enormous financial blow.

Selling The Team​

2004 did not see any improvements – quite the opposite, in fact. Jordan, a shrewd businessman, did not hold on longer than needed and decided to sell the team to entrepreneur Alex Shnaider before the 2005 season kicked off. The cars would remain yellow, and the team would remain as Jordan for that year, but once the year was over, the curtain fell for the Jordan team.
For 2006, the squad raced as Midland F1, then transitioned to Spyker in 2007 before becoming Force India in 2008. That later transformed to Racing Point and, finally, to today’s Aston Martin team.

The Jordan team left a legacy of being a plucky underdog, which was helped by Eddie’s smart business decisions and knack for giving talented drivers a shot – sometimes even multiple times, Fisichella being a prime example after racing for the team in two separate stints in 1997 and from 2002 to 2003.

Even then, it was clear that Eddie was a rockstar—an apt description considering he played the drums in a rock band—who did things a bit differently. The alternate lettering for long-time sponsor Benson & Hedges for races where tobacco advertising was not allowed, coupled with the snake, hornet, or shark-nose art on the cars, was iconic. F1 fans still fondly remember Buzzin’ Hornets, Bitten & Hisses, or Bitten Heroes.

While Jordan stepped on several toes during his tenure as team boss, most F1 fans looked upon his team favourably, and many still miss the yellow cars today. However, Eddie Jordan’s F1 story was not quite finished once he was no longer a team owner.

Jordan’s Broadcasting Career​

Despite stepping away from the paddock, Jordan couldn’t escape Formula One that easily! In 2009, the Irishman returned to the Formula One scene as a pundit for BBC Sport’s ‘Grand Prix’ programme alongside Jake Humphrey and future close friend and colleague David Coulthard. Jordan was a full-time pundit and broadcaster throughout the 2009 and 2011 seasons before progressing to live races only from 2012 to 2015.
Jordan was not always known for his secrecy, having broken many stories before they were due to be confirmed with his many links inside and around the Formula One paddock. These include Lewis Hamilton’s move to Mercedes, Michael Schumacher’s return in 2010 and Felipe Massa’s departure from Ferrari. Despite this, he was regarded a fantastic person to have on your team with his no-nonsense attitude and relentless drive to succeed in everything he did.

In 2016, Jordan was announced as Channel 4’s leading analyst for the new highlights show, which would air after each Grand Prix weekend. This role would keep him in the paddock for many years, alongside many other famous faces from Formula One.

In 2023, Jordan launched his podcast Formula For Success alongside valued friend and now long-time colleague David Coulthard. The duo often reminisced about the golden days of Formula One and the current landscape of the sport.

He was a fantastic Businessman, Broadcaster, Team Manager, and, most importantly, a standout guy who told it like it was and gave all of himself to the sport he loved so much.

Rest in peace, Eddie Jordan; your legacy will stand the test of time, and you will certainly never be forgotten.