An old-school Irishman of fast wit and vibrancy, was a determine whose affect touched each nook of ’s most-famed paddock over a 30-plus-year profession within the sport.
From a promising race driver and savvy crew proprietor to a fascinating broadcaster and erudite supervisor, Jordan’s on Thursday, after a year-long battle with most cancers, has despatched shockwaves via a sport now in its pomp.
F1 has not at all times been in such good stead, although. It has wanted influencers and trendsetters: these keen to place their neck (and extra importantly, their funds) on the road for a shot at victory, and to present determined drivers an opportunity within the cockpit. Jordan was definitely a type of.
Born in Dublin in 1949, Jordan was given the nickname ‘Flash’ in his childhood, owing to his surname rhyming with the title and superhero Gordon. No flash-in-the-pan although, he dismissed the route of changing into a priest on the age of 15 and household stress to enter dentistry. As a substitute, he took a six-week accountancy course and started working on the Financial institution of Eire – a job which gave him his first perception into the artwork of negotiation.
But because the Seventies decade started, Jordan opted for pastures new. He started karting and gained the 1971 Irish Kart Championships earlier than transferring via the ranks in Components Ford and Components Two. He was fast, however not fast sufficient, and shortly based his personal junior crew – through which he handed drives to and Johnny Herbert.
However his most important driver deal – not that he was to comprehend it on the time – got here proper at first of his 14-year profession as a Components 1 crew proprietor.
In want of a driver on the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix after Bertrand Gachot was despatched to jail for attacking a taxi driver, Jordan agreed a deal to signal a promising younger German driver, who was a part of Mercedes’s sportscar programme.
His title was .
‘First, he lied to me – I had requested him if he had ever been to Spa,” Jordan stated, of giving Schumacher his debut.
“I meant, after all, if he had pushed there earlier than. He merely stated ‘sure’. Okay, he wasn’t dishonest, however he had by no means raced there. If I had identified that, I wouldn’t have let him drive.
“For my part, it was unattainable to get to know probably the most troublesome observe and a brand new automobile in a single weekend. His seventh place on the grid was due to this fact distinctive. His skilled team-mate [Andrea] de Cesaris, who wasn’t precisely thought of gradual on the scene, didn’t stand an opportunity. Seventh place was like pole place for us.”
Whereas Schumacher needed to retire from the race on account of a clutch subject, a star had been born. Jordan had an settlement to retain Schumacher for the remainder of the season however enigmatic Italian Flavio Briatore swooped, snatching the German driver for Benetton – the place he would go on to win the primary two of seven world titles.
“Welcome to the piranha membership,” McLaren boss Ron Dennis instructed Jordan after Briatore’s transfer. To today, it’s a phrase synonymous with the no-holds-barred deadlings of the F1 paddock.
Nonetheless, Jordan loved loads of success over 250 races as a crew boss till a money shortfall led to promoting up in 2005. The spotlight was a one-two end, again at Spa, in 1998 with Damon Hill taking the chequered flag. Embarrassingly, the Irish nationwide anthem was not performed on the rostrum because the FIA couldn’t discover a copy of Amhran na BhFiann in time; luckily, the cock-up was remedied a 12 months later on the French GP.
The ultimate 12 months of the century noticed Jordan at its peak: they achieved their highest end of third within the constructors’ world championship, with their driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen ending third as properly within the drivers’ standings.
However as a brand new century dawned, that was nearly as good because it bought. Giancarlo Fisichella claimed the crew’s remaining win in Brazil in 2003 earlier than Jordan offered his crew to Midland Group for $60m. That crew, after plenty of title modifications, is now Aston Martin. In a full circle second, Jordan final 12 months toured Aston’s new £200m Silverstone manufacturing unit the place his crew was based mostly 20 years earlier, as he brokered Adrian Newey’s from Purple Bull.
A bigger-than-life, cheeky and sometimes sassy determine, away from racing Jordan had a softer, heartfelt aspect. The Irishman was a patron of CLIC Sargent, the UK’s main most cancers charity, and raised hundreds of thousands of kilos alongside spouse Marie. He obtained an OBE in 2012 for providers to charity and motor racing and in 2021, obtained the Freedom of the Metropolis of London.
His remaining years within the paddock had been nonetheless performed out in entrance of the cameras. Alongside presenter Jake Humphrey and ex-F1 driver David Coulthard, his flamboyant punditry type enraptured him to F1 followers within the UK watching the BBC’s free-to-air protection on the finish of the noughties.
His knack for a scoop, along with his endless listing of contacts, made him an enormous asset; certainly, he predicted Schumacher’s return to Mercedes in 2010 and Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to the identical crew in 2013. His ostentatiousness made him a marmite determine with F1 supremo , although the pair at all times had an affable relationship.
But Jordan continued to exert his highly effective ideas and messaging proper as much as his unhappy loss of life in Cape City on Thursday morning. Solely final month, when discussing main a consortium to purchase London Irish rugby membership out of administration, he speaking about his chemotherapy. Beforehand, he urged individuals to get screened for most cancers early.
“It is a little message to everyone listening to this, don’t waste or put it off,” he stated. “Go and get examined, as a result of in life you’ve got probabilities. Go and do it.
“Don’t be silly. Don’t be shy. Take care of your physique, guys.”
That was what ‘EJ’, who additionally performed the drums in a band known as Eddie and the Robbers and carried out on-stage at Silverstone, was all about. His phrases struck a chord with an entire vary of individuals from all walks of life.
“I used to be ridiculously severe, however I had this facade, I had this character that wanted to be performed out,” Jordan instructed Gentleman’s Journal in 2020.
“I used to be the Irish joker, I used to be jack the lad. And I hoped they wouldn’t take me too severely. It was a very great sport. And so they by no means twigged how severe we really had been.”
A grasp of persuasion and attraction, who rose from nothing to stroll the stroll inside F1’s greater circles, he will likely be sorely missed and tributes will likely be keenly felt this weekend on the Chinese language Grand Prix.
