Eddie Jordan’s team burst into Formula 1 in 1991 and immediately made an impression.
Before becoming the Midland-owned MF1 Racing for 2006, Jordan Grand Prix built up a cult following, helped launch the careers of several drivers and briefly became a championship contender.
Early breakthrough
1991 Canadian GP (2 June 1991)
Jordan’s first F1 car was a good one and underlined that fact as early as round five of the 1991 campaign. Andrea de Cesaris, who arguably never drove better than when he was at Jordan, led Bertrand Gachot as the team took its first points with fourth and fifth.
Introducing a legend
1991 Belgian GP (25 August 1991)
Michael Schumacher’s arrival – as a replacement for the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot – has passed into F1 folklore. The Mercedes sportscar junior qualified seventh at Spa, though his clutch failed on lap one of the race. By the next event, Schumacher was at Benetton, but he had been a fine example of Jordan giving young talent a chance.
Making the podium
1994 Pacific GP (17 April 1994)
Rubens Barrichello was another future grand prix winner who started his F1 career at Jordan. After a couple of tough years, Jordan was stronger in 1994 and Barrichello survived a dramatic opening lap in the Pacific GP at Aida to rise from eighth on the grid to third and give Jordan its first podium in F1.
The first pole
1994 Belgian GP (26 August 1994)
A classic wet but drying Friday qualifying session gave Rubens Barrichello the chance to top the times, which meant he took pole when Saturday’s session was even wetter. From Jordan’s first F1 pole, Barrichello fell to third on the opening lap and later spun off, but another milestone had been reached.
Edging closer
1995 Canadian GP (11 June 1995)
A deal with Peugeot gave Jordan manufacturer support in 1995, though the 195 was rarely able to challenge the big guns. But in a race of attrition, Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine worked their way up the order and inherited second and third when Michael Schumacher’s Benetton hit trouble in the closing stages.
Emotional victory
1998 Belgian GP (30 August 1998)
Despite the arrival of 1996 world champion Damon Hill, Jordan struggled at the start of the new narrow-car/grooved-tyre F1 era in 1998. But the 198 rapidly improved and an inspired Hill qualified third at Spa. In a chaotic wet race that included a startline shunt and Michael Schumacher crashing into the back of David Coulthard, Hill led home Ralf Schumacher to score a 1-2 and give Jordan a popular first F1 victory.
Frentzen strikes in France
1999 French GP (27 June 1999)
Jordan brought the best out of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and a combination of the 199’s pace and mistakes at Ferrari and McLaren kept the German in title contention. A clever strategy in a rain-affected Magny-Cours contest helped Frentzen to his – and Jordan’s – second GP victory.
Championship challengers
1999 Italian GP (12 September 1999)
Consistent scoring kept Heinz-Harald Frentzen vaguely in touch in the drivers’ championship, and his chances improved significantly at Monza. He qualified second and inherited the lead when Mika Hakkinen dropped his McLaren. That victory, plus pole next time at the Nurburgring, gave Jordan genuine momentum, but electrical failure in the European GP put Frentzen out of a promising position, and he eventually finished third in the standings.
One last hurrah
2003 Brazilian GP (6 April 2003)
Jordan’s decline, with tricky financial and engine situations, was swift, and the EJ13 was the second-worst car on the 2003 grid. But a strategy gamble paid off when the race was red-flagged following Fernando Alonso’s huge crash. Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren had just repassed Giancarlo Fisichella after an earlier error, but the Jordan driver inherited Interlagos victory when the results were – eventually – taken back to the end of lap 54, Fisichella’s only official lap in the lead.
