Tributes have been paid from across Formula One after the death of the former team owner Eddie Jordan, aged 76. The Irishman was a well-liked and well-respected figure who had defied the odds to bring his independent Jordan team into the sport and went on to achieve notable successes such as four grand prix wins, including one for Damon Hill, and giving Michael Schumacher his first seat in F1.
Jordan, popularly known as “EJ”, had been diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer in December of last year that had spread to his spine and pelvis. His family released a statement on Thursday morning announcing he had passed away peacefully at his home in Cape Town.
“EJ brought an abundance of charisma, energy and Irish charm everywhere he went,” they said. “We all have a huge hole missing without his presence. He will be missed by so many people, but he leaves us with tons of great memories to keep us smiling through our sorrow.”
Hill, who took the team’s debut F1 victory at Spa in 1998, described Jordan as a true legend.
“Eddie was chaotic and a genius all at the same time. He had the energy of 100 men. He created so much joy and had a massive heart. There will only ever be one EJ,” he said. “He left his mark on the sport. He came from nothing, he worked his way up by using his cunning and guile. And, by his own admission, it wasn’t because of his good looks but because he was undeniable.
“He had a way of getting himself into your life. He was extraordinary and brilliant. He had a lovely family and he enriched life all around him. My heart goes out to them. The sport has lost a true legend and we have lost a true friend.”
Jordan was a dynamic, enthusiastic force of nature within F1, renowned for pulling off deals, his warmth, humour and his direct speaking that he retained throughout his life. Insistent on doing things his own way, he was unbowed by the scale and power of the competition he faced while running his team, which he forged from nothing and which would go on at their peak to be in the running for a championship during the period they raced between 1991 and 2005.
A former driver, he won the Irish kart championship at his first attempt in 1971 but suffered an accident in Formula Three in 1976 and in 1979 moved into team ownership. As Eddie Jordan Racing he enjoyed success in Formula 3000 and F3, including with Johnny Herbert winning the British F3 title in 1987.
His eye for talent was keen and over this period he gave a start to a host of drivers who would go on to success, including Hill and Herbert, Jean Alesi, Eddie Irvine and Martin Brundle.
That eye for talent extended to his personnel and he brought in the engineer Gary Anderson to design their first car, the 191, a distinctive, remarkably good-looking F1 car to this day, which would set the standard for the team punching above their weight.
Equally notable was Jordan putting Schumacher, who would go on to take seven world championships, into it that season when he needed a replacement for the Belgian GP, after his driver Bertrand Gachot had been jailed. The German shone in qualifying and, despite an early race exit with a mechanical failure, Jordan wanted to keep him on only for Benetton to sign him for the next race. A baptism of fire – “Welcome to the Piranha Club” was the McLaren head Ron Dennis’s response – to the brutal realities of F1.
Undeterred, he battled relentlessly, achieving results well beyond the means of his small outfit struggling for backing and resources. Ever with an eye for a deal, Jordan secured the sponsorship of the cigarette manufacturer Benson & Hedges in 1996 and with the funding made great strides. In 1998 he had Hill, who had won the world championship with Williams in 1996, on board, a new deal with Honda engines and the designer Mike Gascoyne. They took their first victory – a one-two for Hill and his teammate Ralf Schumacher – at a wet Belgian GP.
A year later they enjoyed their best season, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who won two races, alongside Hill, and the team made it to third in the championship, heights they would not reach again. The financial backing subsequently dwindled and with it the results. They scored one further win, at the chaotic Brazilian GP in 2003. The victory was initially awarded to Kimi Räikkönen when a major crash halted proceedings, until Jordan pointed out that his man, Giancarlo Fisichella, had been leading when it was stopped and the win was duly given to Jordan.
Unable to compete with the major players financially and match their investment in performance, Jordan reluctantly sold the team to the Midland group in 2006 for $60m, an immense return. They would then go through the iterations of Spyker, Force India and Racing Point before becoming Aston Martin in 2021. Aston still used the original Jordan Silverstone base right up until they took up residence in a state of the art factory at the circuit last year.
The chief executive of F1, Stefano Domenicali, paid tribute to Jordan on behalf of the sport. “We are deeply saddened to hear about the sudden loss of Eddie Jordan,” he said. “With his inexhaustible energy he always knew how to make people smile, remaining genuine and brilliant at all times. Eddie has been a protagonist of an era of F1 and he will be deeply missed. In this moment of sorrow, my thoughts and those of the entire Formula One family are with his family and loved ones.”
The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, to whom Jordan had offered his team for sale, also acknowledged his importance to the sport. “Very sorry to hear Eddie Jordan has sadly passed. Eddie was a hugely colourful character who I first met in 1991 as a young driver at his then new factory after his first year in Formula One. His advice, ‘get a good sponsor … ‘Welcome to the Piranha Club’,” he said. “Formula One has lost a legend and we will miss his wit and his Irish charm.”
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F1’s governing body, the FIA, paid a similar tribute. “Eddie Jordan was a legend of Formula One. He made an invaluable contribution to global motor sport throughout his life,” it said. “All of us at the FIA would like to send our deepest condolences to his family and friends at this very difficult time. Eddie will always be remembered as a great sportsman and passionate ambassador for Formula One on and off the track.”
Jordan remained working in F1 as an outspoken TV pundit for the BBC and Channel 4 and then as the manager for the enormously successful designer Adrian Newey, for whom he negotiated a deal to leave Red Bull and join Aston Martin, the team that had evolved from Jordan’s fledgling outfit and with whom Newey began work earlier this year.
