Jordan Grand Prix’s magic F1 moments

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)

Andrea de Cesaris, Jordan 191

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Bertrand Gachot, Jordan 191

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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, Jordan 191 Ford

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Michael Schumacher, Jordan

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

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, Jordan 194-Hart

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Podium: Gerhard Berger, Ferrari second; Michael Schumacher, Benetton winner; Rubens Barrichello, Jordan third

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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)

Rubens Barrichello, Jordan

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Rubens Barrichello, Jordan

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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)

Eddie Irvine, Jordan 195

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Rubens Barrichello, Jordan, 2nd position, and Jordan teammate Eddie Irvine, Jordan, 3rd position, celebrate on the podium

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

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)

Damon Hill, Jordan 198 leads Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F300 and Eddie Irvine, Ferrari F300

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Eddie Jordan, Jordan GP

Photo by: Michael Cooper / Motorsport Images

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)

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan Mugen Honda 199

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Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 1st position, on the podium with Eddie Jordan, Team Principal, Jordan Grand Prix

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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)

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan 199

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Winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan Mugen Honda

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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)

Giancarlo Fisichella, Jordan Ford EJ13, drives through the debris on the track

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Giancarlo Fisichella is awarded the winner’s trophy alongside Eddie Jordan from the previous round in Brazil

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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.