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‘It’s So Different’ – Eddie Jordan Makes It Clear That He Doesn’t Want to Return to F1

Published 02/01/2021, 3:50 AM EST

Eddie Jordan was the owner of the Jordan Grand Prix team that competed in F1 from 1991 up until 2004. The team itself wasn’t the best on the grid at any point. However, they did surprise everyone in the debut year when they finished fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.

From 1995 to 1999, Jordan’s F1 team achieved quite impressive results. Moreover, the Irish team employed quite a remarkable set of drivers. Apart from launching the career of Michael Schumacher, it also employed the likes of his brother Ralf, 1996 championship winner Damon Hill, and future Ferrari drivers like Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine.

Jordan himself had quite the personality and brought a lighter atmosphere in the paddock. But after a decade of punching above their weight, the results slumped and financial problems forced Eddie to sell his team to the mid-lands group in 2005.

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Since then, Jordan has become an F1 pundit and businessman. He recently even speculated on Lewis Hamilton’s contract status. When asked in an exclusive interview with The Race, whether he would like to come back into the sport and become a team owner, Eddie’s answer was a firm no.

He said, “I don’t want to be blunt, but I wouldn’t.”

Eddie Jordan believes his kind of personality wouldn’t suit the demands of a modern F1 team

Jordan explained, “It’s so different. Not better, not worse, just different. I think it’s becoming hugely corporate, institutionalized. It just needs a very highly qualified, very understanding type of person.

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“You really don’t see the style of Ron Dennis or Frank Williams or myself, whether it be Ken Tyrrell or Jackie Stewart or all of these people, including Tom Walkinshaw.

“These were, as Bernie [Ecclestone, long-time F1 boss] used to call them ‘owner drivers’, so in other words you went in there, it was your money that was at risk. If Bernie paid you had enough money to keep going and if he didn’t pay you, basically you’d struggle.”

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So instead, Jordan is content on focusing on investing. Most recently, he did so in Guestia, a company that provides hotel booking arrangements most notably used by McLaren F1 during the season. So, in the weirdest of ways, he does still have a connection to an F1 team.

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Ronan Carvalho is senior F1 author for Essentiallysports. Ronan is currently pursuing his Journalism degree from St. Xavier's College.

‘It’s So Different’ – Eddie Jordan Makes It Clear That He Doesn’t Want to Return to F1

Eddie Jordan believes his kind of personality wouldn’t suit the demands of a modern F1 team

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