He saw so many of the greats, so Eddie Jordan is well placed to judge.
The Dubliner gave Michael Schumacher his Formula One debut, and he’s heard so many talk him up as the greatest.
To Jordan, he’s up there – but he has some doubts too.
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“Is he the greatest driver of all time? I have some reservations. But that’s just me. Everyone has their own opinion,’’ he said.
“There’s no doubt he had the speed. But there were certain things I never really liked about the way he went about his racing.”
It’s 30 years since Schumacher’s first Grand Prix win – against the odds for Benetton at Spa Francorchamp. From there, the German would dominate the sport – seven world championships, 91 wins, 155 podium places.
“Amazing. One of the things that always made me think and think carefully was why is such a great driver making all his
teammates bow down to him?
“Why did they have to give way and was that a contractual obligation? Do I think that Ayrton Senna would have done that? Do I think Lewis Hamilton did that?
“Absolutely not, and Lewis now has seven world titles too.
“So it’s a matter of opinion. I think Michael Schumacher was one of the quickest drivers that I’ve ever had in a car alongside Senna, that’s for sure.
“Was he the greatest? That’s where I have a question mark.”
Rewind 30 years to the historic 1992 season and the Williams – with Nigel Mansell and Richardo Patrasie as their two drivers – was the team to beat.
Indeed, ahead of the 12th round of the season at Spa, Mansell had won eight races with Senna taking two victories and his McLaren team-mate Gerhard Berger winning the other in Canada.
Schumacher was getting to grips with F1 and was on the podium five times to that point with two runners up places for Benetton in Spain and Canada as the F1 circus headed to the famous Spa circuit.
It was a favourite of the drivers and the venue for the German’s first ever Grand Prix start a year earlier when he drove his one and only race for Jordan.
“Bertrand Gachot, who was our driver and who we were happy with, failed to tell us about a problem he had with a taxi driver in London and wound up getting incarcerated,” said Jordan.
“Out of the blue, Mercedes said ‘what do you think about this guy Michael Schumacher’?
“His manager said Schumacher knew the track well.
“Anyway, he had money – Mercedes were prepared to pay for him to race with us but, straight afterwards, Flavio Breatore took him to Benetton.
“However, I applied for an injunction in Monza (before the Italian Grand Prix) and got it.
“It meant I had a strong hand. He had to be driving for us, or nobody else unless we came to a financial agreement with the Benetton family and everyone involved, including Mercedes.
“So we got enough money to survive to get to the end of the (1991) season.”
A year later, the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix rolled around as Mansell dominated qualifying and was over two seconds ahead of Senna’s McLaren as the Englishman stuck the Williams on pole.
In third was Schumacher’s Benetton after a brilliant qualifying session
The race did not start as expected as both Mansell and Schumacher lost position and Senna shot through to the first place before the Williams eventually got into the more familiar one-two position on track with Mansell leading Patrasie early on.
Then the weather Gods intervened as the rains came. Senna gambled against changing his wet tires and stayed out, But the track began to dry and the Brazilian eventually had to make a pit stop.
By the time he rejoined, Senna was 12th and the chance of the win had gone
Schumacher decided to change his wets to drys and was the first to do so. It paid off as the German put in fastest lap after fastest lap and, by the time the Williams duo pitted, the game was up.
“Schumacher held on to win as both the Williams had exhaust problems which prevented them from reaching full throttle on the straights.
“I don’t remember one thing about it. But on reflection, now, I probably would have been happy enough for him,” said Jordan.
Schumacher would go onto the next round and finish third in Italy and a third second place in the season ending Australian Grand Prix to finish third overall behind Mansell and Patrasie in the drivers’ championship.
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