2.3 Jordan
Description
This article is from the Formula One Motor Racing FAQ, by mitchmcc@ultranet.com (Mitchell McCann) with numerous contributions by others.
2.3 Jordan
Engine: Peugeot
Nationality: Irish
Key personnel: Owner - Eddie Jordan
Chief Designer - Gary Anderson
Year formed: 1980
Formula 1 debut: 1991
1996 car/drivers: 196 - Barrichello, Brundle
1997 car/drivers: 197 - Fisichella, R.Schumacher
Address: Jordan Grand Prix
Silverstone Circuit
Towcester
Northamptonshire NN12 8TN
Eddie Jordan raced in karts, FF1600, Formula Atlantic, F3 and F2
and was a test driver for McLaren before establishing Eddie
Jordan Racing in 1980 initially to support his own racing
career. He retired from driving in 1981 to concentrate on
running the team. He signed David Sears to drive a Ralt-Toyota
in the 1981 British F3 series. The team started its first event
from the front row and ended up on the rostrum after finishing
second.
Between 1981 and 1989 the team ran several F3 cars in Britain,
Europe, France and in 1985 they also began competing in the
newly created F3000. During these years many drivers took a seat
in Jordan cars including Martin Brundle, Stefan Johansson, David
Hunt, Johnny Herbert, Jean Alesi and a first F3 test for Ayrton
Senna in August '82. The Jordan team was a consistent race
winner and narrowly missed out on the Championships before
securing the F3 title in 1987 with Herbert winning 5 races. They
won the F3000 championship in 1989 with Alesi beating out
Herbert.
As the move towards F1 gathered pace, Jordan concentrated his
efforts solely on F3000 in 1990, running three Mugen powered
Reynards for Eddie Irvine, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Emanuele
Naspetti. Irvine was the dominant of the three gaining 3rd place
in the championship with a race win at Hockenheim. Jordan was
still active in F3000 in 1991 with the two-car Team Barclay EJR
though an uncompetitive chassis prevented Damon Hill and
Vincenzo Sospiri from achieving better results than a 2nd at
Hockenheim (Sospiri) a third place at Nogard (Hill).
The fledgling F1 team however were to prove the success story of
the motorsport year. Jordan Grand Prix took the F1 establishment
by surprise in 1991 finishing an unprecedented 5th in the
Constructor's championship in their first season.
1992 was to be a frustrating year and the team only scored one
championship point at the final race in Adelaide. It was
announced at the Australian GP that Jordan had signed an
exclusive agreement with Brian Hart for the supply of his new
V10 engine for the 93 and 94 seasons. A few weeks later Rubens
Barrichello was signed to the team. The team did not score
points in 93 until the penultimate round in Japan with
Barrichello finishing 5th followed by F1 newcomer Eddie Irvine
making his GP debut.
The team was much improved in 94 retaining both drivers and
engine partner. Despite Irvine's three race ban for his
involvement in the incident at the Brazilian GP, the team
finished the year with 28 points, 5th place in the constructors,
a rostrum finish and a pole position - both courtesy of
Barrichello.
In October 94 Jordan announced that they had signed a three year
exclusive engine deal with Peugeot. The team maintained the same
driver line-up but the team did not live up to their promise
scoring just two rostrum finishes - 2nd and 3rd at the Canadian
GP. The same driver line-up was again announced for '96 but just
one week later Eddie Irvine was lured away by Ferrari - Jordan
receiving several million in compensation from the Italian team.
Martin Brundle has returned to the Jordan team taking Irvine's
place. Entering the season with high expectations, 96 turned out
to be a big disappointment. The Peugeot was rumored to be one
of the best engines but the chassis handled badly and both
drivers complained about it for pretty much the entire season.
Neither driver was retained for 97!
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