One of Eddie Jordan’s earliest jobs – before he became a Formula 1 team principal, racing driver, manager or broadcaster – was selling out-of-date salmon to rugby fans as they made their way home from a nearby stadium.
His entrepreneurial instinct served him well as he achieved a feat few have managed in recent decades and perhaps never will again: founding an independent, race-winning Formula 1 team.Born in Dublin in 1948, Jordan showed talent as a racing driver, competing against the likes of his future driver Andrea de Cesaris and future F1 world champion Nigel Mansell in Formula 3. He won the Irish Formula Atlantic title in 1978.
He decided to make the move into team management partly through realising his limitations as a driver and partly as a series of incidents alerted him to the dangers of racing. His brakes failed heading into the hairpin at Mallory Park in 1975, the car smashed into the bank on the outside and Jordan suffered compound leg fractures. In 1981, after passing the scene of Jean-Louis Lafosse’s fatal crash at Le Mans, Jordan threw up.
EJR expanded into the new Formula 3000 championship (which replaced Formula 2) in 1985. After taking Johnny Herbert to the 1987 British F3 title in a Reynard chassis, the trio moved into F3000 together the following year. Herbert gave Reynard a victory on their debut at Jerez, carrying Camel logos. Jordan had applied these to the car in exchange for what proved to be a lucrative meeting with the tobacco brand, which became the team’s title sponsor.
Herbert’s progression to F1 was delayed by his terrible crash at Brands Hatch. Jordan successfully propelled other drivers to the top flight including Jean Alesi and Martin Donnelly. But he also harboured ambitions of entering his own team.
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Jordan Grand Prix arrived on the F1 grid in 1991. Gary Anderson designed a neat chassis with superb aerodynamic performance in high-speed corners, powered by a customer Ford HB engine. Finished in a patriotic Irish racing green – with which Jordan successfully lured 7Up and Fujifilm as sponsors – the 191 is regarded by many as one of F1’s most attractive cars.
But this time Jordan’s business acumen was not up to the standard of the competition: Flavio Briatore lured Schumacher to his team. “Welcome to the Piranha Club,” McLaren team principal Ron Dennis told Jordan at the next round in Monza, where Schumacher was now wearing Benetton overalls. Despite that blow, Jordan finished a stunning fifth in their first season, ahead of established names such as Tyrrell, Lotus and Brabham.
A lean year followed as the team struggled with uncompetitive and unreliable Yamaha V12s. A move to Brian Hart’s customer engines the following year improved matters, as did the arrival of talented newcomer Rubens Barrichello. He gave the team its first podium finish at TI Aida that year as Jordan moved back up to fifth in the points. Jordan picked up McLaren’s Peugeot engine supply the following year and the team scored a double podium finish in Canada, but slipped to sixth. Nonetheless, it was now an established force in the midfield.
Brundle returned to his former team in 1996 but was shaded by Barrichello. Jordan had now brought Benson and Hedges, another tobacco brand, on board as a title sponsor, which paid for the use of a wind tunnel and other new testing hardware at their Silverstone base. They were fifth that year and again in 1997 with an all-new driver line-up – Schumacher’s younger brother Ralf and Giancarlo Fisichella, who was robbed of a strong second place in Hockenheim by a puncture.
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Benson and Hedges pressed hard for Jordan to sign world champion Damon Hill for the following year. He did, and though the relationship between driver and team was sometimes strained, Hill nonetheless delivered the team’s first victory, in a one-two with Schumacher at Spa. He retired from F1 after one more season, however.
Third in the 1999 championship proved its peak. Its 2000 car proved unreliable and it sank to sixth. Although it out-scored fellow Honda users BAR over the next two seasons, the Japanese manufacturer chose their rivals as their exclusive partner, and Jordan returned to using customer Ford engines in 2003.
Fisichella gave the team itw final moment of glory in 2003, albeit in bizarre circumstances. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was originally declared the winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix when it was halted by Fernando Alonso’s huge crash. However the FIA subsequently confirmed it had applied its rules incorrectly, and Fisichella was subsequently confirmed the winner. It was Jordan’s final triumph: By 2005 he had sold his team to the Midland Group. It now races as Aston Martin and its original factory was demolished in 2023 to make way for that team’s state-of-the-art new facilities.
Jordan’s life after his team continued to revolve around motor racing. He joined the BBC as part of its F1 coverage team and demonstrated the value of his contacts when he reported Lewis Hamilton’s move to Mercedes weeks before it was confirmed in 2012. Jordan later revealed he served as an intermediary between Mercedes consultant Niki Lauda and Hamilton when the team courted him.
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Jordan passed away in Cape Town, South Africa on March 20th, 2025, 11 days before his 77th birthday. His family confirmed he had been “battling with an aggressive form of prostate cancer for the past 12 months.”
He is survived by his wife, Maria, and their children Miki, Zoe, Zak and Kyle.
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Ideals (@ideals)
20th March 2025, 16:32
Lovely piece Keith, thank you for that.
As my avatar might have already revealed, Jordan GP was my team of choice during the late 90s, especially that magical year with Frentzen. The entire vibe of that team just really appealed to me and was in many ways ahead of its time. Jordan just really got it.
His business acumen speaks for itself, and I love that he’s the reason that DHL switched to its now iconic yellow color, all because he needed to keep them as a sponsor, while also being obligated to keep the car yellow for B&H. That man could talk himself into any deal no matter what.
His years a pundit on BBC also stand out, he really excelled at so many things.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th March 2025, 19:30
Ohh, upon zooming it I remember that helmet, 1999 was actually the first season I watched, and a very unusual one.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th March 2025, 16:52
One of the illustrous people who made F1 into what we know know. Jordan had some amazing designs and liveries, gave us exciting driving and the hope of getting forward on the grid. Thank you Mr. Jordan, rest in peace. Condolences to his family and friends.
Dex
20th March 2025, 17:08
F1 is not the same without people like this and their teams. I couldn’t care less about the story of Red Bull, Mercedes, or even corporate modern McLaren or Ferrari. Teams like Jordan… They used to be the soul of F1. Some were more successful, some ending in disaster, but they all wrote history of the sport. I imagine sites like this should miss them the most. There are only a couple of non-generic drivers and zero non-generic teams. We also lost most of the non-generic tracks. There’s barely anything to talk about, except for the technical stuff and some (real or not) bad blood between attention-seeking team principals.
Thank you for those good years, Eddie.
dot_com (@dot_com)
20th March 2025, 19:29
So sad. He was such a character. Watching the yellow Jordans take on the big three in the late 90’s is and always will be one of my favorite F1 memories. He will be missed.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
20th March 2025, 20:07
Even his passing (always an appropriate phrase for racers) was performed with some style, that sad announcement before Christmas allowing folks some time to show their gratitude and celebrate his life.
Thanks Keith, fine examples here of why thinking of him will always raise a smile. Raising a glass to Eddie, and looking forward to hearing what tales Anderson, Brundle and many others have to tell.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
20th March 2025, 23:43
Woke this morning to this sad news. Thanks Keith for your article, such a great summary of one of the icons of F1.
Vale Eddie, you will be missed by so many.
XM (@xmf1)
21st March 2025, 0:16
Admittedly I didn’t know who EJ was because I started watching F1 when Raikkonen started in 2001, and Jordan Racing was in its final few years. But 2 years ago I found Formula For Success and have since tuned in religiously to listen to EJ and DC talk about the sport in a very refreshing way and I’ve grown to be really fond of EJ, even despite his wild takes which half the time happen to be half true in true EJ style. This news came as a sudden shock even though he’s not been on the show for a few episodes already and I held on strong hope that Eddie would come back stronger after his rest. I didn’t want to even think that he’d be passing, what with his friends like Bernie seemingly able to live forever.
I’ll miss his growl. Rest well, EJ. You fought a hard fight and inspired many of us deeply. Truly more money than time.
El Pollo Loco
21st March 2025, 0:29
A copy and paste from I post I made somewhere else, but feel like the links are good for EJ fans and newer fans who want to learn about him.
Sad to lose a character like Eddie, who against all odds, created an F1 team out of almost nowhere (after gaining experience in F3000) that was often the best of the rest and even a title contender one season. Knew he was sick, but it still feels sudden and unexpected because he’s been incredibly energetic over the last few years and was still making new episodes of his show Formula For Success (usually with DC as co-host) until literally last week.
His show FFS (double entendre acronym is probably no coincidence 😂) has so many utterly hilarious stories and you learn a lot because, while interviewing many F1 legends, the show usually focuses on behind the scenes stories rather than just rehashing events everyone already knows about link
A personal favorite is an episode w/Gerhard Berger in which he recounts the time he, EJ and Dennis were flying back from Japan (on a private jet) and Gerhard tells Ron to encourage Eddie to look through his (GB) briefcase while he’s in the bathroom. A case in which he’d put a fake document indicating BMW was desperate to supply a second team w/free engines (this is the day after EJ had proudly announced a new Ford partnership) and hilarity ensures for the next two weeks as Eddie goes on a quest to snag this non-existent opportunity and Berger took it so far Eddie submitted a full due diligence of his sponsors, suppliers, etc. for this non-existent opportunity. Here’s a link directly to that story: https://youtu.be/x1Vol2DkU6E?si=1aKHOB_p4kMDUGB_
XM (@xmf1)
22nd March 2025, 1:45
That briefcase story still cracks me up hahaha
Win7Golf (@win7golf)
21st March 2025, 4:05
RIP
One of the good guys of Formula 1…
Jungle
21st March 2025, 4:49
Very sad news. EJ’s team brought a style of coolness to the grid that was very rockn’roll.
Deerhunter
21st March 2025, 6:27
Dad worked for Bridgestone in the 90s, so being a Ferrari fan was pretty much predestined. But back when I first started semi-regularly watching F1, that yellow Jordan with the snake livery was the one that caught my eye (how could it not?).
Eddie Jordan was something else, alright. Back when F1 first experimented with podium interviews and bringing in random celebrities, Eddie was pretty much the only one who could balance charisma with actual tough questions, and this was what eventually led me into reading more of his background.
Has a tendency of unintelligibly running his mouth yes, but he’s also an always colorful chap whose love for the sport (and the wheelin’ and dealin’ that comes with it) was never in doubt
Red Andy (@red-andy)
21st March 2025, 7:53
I think fans who have only started following the sport in the last 10 years or so will not appreciate the importance of people like Eddie, who helped the sport survive so it could become the multibillion-dollar enterprise it is today.
Before every team had a multinational business or car manufacturer behind it, you had teams like Jordan, run by enthusiasts for the sheer love of it. Without those teams, the sport would have been at the mercy of the big manufacturers, whose interest in the sport ebbed and flowed over the years.
It is sadly ironic that it was a manufacturer tie-up that ultimately led to the death spiral of Eddie’s team, when Honda walked away in the middle of a three-year engine supply deal. Doubly so now that its successor team is now preparing to get back into bed with the same manufacturer that killed it in the first place.
El Pollo Loco
21st March 2025, 8:29
100%. The fact there are so few replies here are proof of that. My post included some links and info for newer fans in case they want to learn more about him. So, it’s held up for approval.
Alesici
21st March 2025, 9:57
I thought I ought to re-post, refine and supplement my previous COTD-winning comment as a tribute to EJ, via Gary Anderson, for giving me the chance to work for the team through the summer of 1997. My fond memories included:
Nearly crashing into a car that was entering the factory as I drove away dreamily giddy following my successful interview.
Getting to sit in I think the beautiful Jordan 191 in reception and to wonder how the drivers drove without being able to see where they were going.
Getting the door cruelly slammed behind me after I stepped into the pitch black backing hot composites oven. Thankfully I found that it had a door handle on the inside too.
The entire factory stopping working to watch the Melinda Messenger page 3 photo shoot outside.
Taking on and beating Riccardo Zonta at F1 97 on the factory cafe’s Playstation 1, then sharing our respective F1 test baptisms.
Nearly getting run over by Ralf Schumacher in some of his first ever pitstop practice, acting as an expendable marker in the most dangerous left rear corner position. When he stalled it upon arriving, audibly saying “Oops, I think I forgot something”, I began to question his skills and how much of a near miss it had been for me.
Asking Ralf on the pitwall where his braking point for a pitstop was, being told he didn’t really have one, then subsequently seeing him throw away 4th in the following week’s race by overshooting it…
Being sent to the supermarket to buy Tesco Value kitchen foil for the heat shielding. Only the cheapest (and so lightest) would do.
Seeing the pain and depression on the face of the lead aerodynamicist as initial commissioning of the Banbury windtunnel was going badly due to the rolling belt having a sizeable jump at the overlap.
Kicking off a day’s work first thing, and immediately being told the traumatising horror story of Tom Pryce’s fatal accident many years prior.
Being smuggled into Silverstone in the back of a van to spectate at Friday practice without a ticket.
Nearly leaving my braking too late whilst running in a Le Mans start to the staff karting final but *just* managing to not fall over the kart and instead making up places. And getting to within 1.75 sec of Fisichella’s lap record… :) On a 24 second lap… :(
Donating the test team’s leftover Mcdonalds desserts to an appreciative Ferrari team a few doors down.
Doing >6x the Silverstone speed limit as a passenger in a drifting Porsche 911 at night, overtaking the entire convoy of staff cars between the pits and the factory.
The appalled, envious faces of my colleagues when I told them I was taking an entire week’s holiday. The team barely had an HR department to speak of. True swashbuckling pirates!
Being politely declined my request to be the first and only person to ride in their newly commissioned 7 poster car shaker rig, due to question marks over its health and safety implications.
Envying our pitlane neighbour Mclaren’s custom painted silver Henry hoover as I made do with my standard orange one.
Receiving a lightly crashed front wing endplate as a momento I still treasure.
Polishing the snake on the side of the nosecone using furniture polish. Just loved how its fangs straked down the front wing pylons, and the subtle B&H reflected in its eye.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
23rd March 2025, 3:35
Very very sad news.