Goodbye Jordan Grand Prix
Jordan Grand Prix debuted in Formula One in 1991. The team is named after Irish-born founder Edmund 'Eddie' Jordan. Recently the team has been sold to the Midland Group, who will rename the team Midland F1 for the 2006 Formula One season.
Eddie Jordan's success in lower Formulae inspired the creation of a Formula One program for the 1991 season. Jordan hired Italian veteran Andrea de Cesaris and Belgian Bertrand Gachot to drive his first cars, which were powered by Ford. The team had a very solid debut season finishing 5th in the Constructors' Championship, with de Cesaris finishing 9th in the Drivers' Championship. Gachot failed to end the season after being sent to prison for attacking a taxi driver. The Belgian was immediatly replaced by Michael Schumacher, who made his Formula One debut in a Jordan at the Belgian Grand Prix, but he was poached by the Benetton Team after just one start.
In the 1992 season, the team was forced to switch to cheaper Yamaha engines. With veterans Mauricio Gugelmin and Stefano Modena driving, the team struggled and failed to score a point until the final race of the season. For the 1993 season, the team again changed engines this time to Hart motors and again 2 new drivers. Ivan Capelli and Rubens Barrichello, who was a rookie that year. Capelli left the team after only 2 races and the young Brazilian Barrichello saw 5 other drivers come and go during the season. Jordan only scored 3 points. Signs of stability were beginning to show near the end of the season when Rubens Barrichello was teamed up with Eddie Irvine, a former driver for Jordan in F3000.
Both drivers stayed at Jordan Grand Prix for the next sason as did the Hart engines. Rubens Barrichello earned the team their first top three finish in Japan, but was nearly killed during a frightening practice crash in San Marino. Jordan finished 5th in the Constructors' Championship. Rubens Barrichello did an exceptional job during the 2004 season. Not only did he earned Jordan's first pole position, he finished 6th in the Drivers' Championship.
In 1995, Jordan switched to Peugeot engines. Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello finished both on the podium during the Canadian GP. It was the highlight to a solid year for Jordan. They finished 6th in the Championship.
In 1996, Eddie Irvine left Jordan to become the new team mate of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari. Jordan had to find a new driver and they did. Martin Brundle teamed up with Barichello. The team became 5th again in the Constructors' Championship.
Rubens Barrichello left for the newly formed Stewart Grand Prix, in 1997, and Martin Brundle became a Formula One commentator for ITV. Jordan replaed them with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and young Ralf Schumacher. Again, the team became 5th, with Fisico scoring two finishes on the podium that season.
The team made its biggest signing as former World Champion Damon Hill replaced Fisichella in 1998. The Team also had new engines that season, Mugen Honda engines. At the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, Jordan earned their first Formula One win, it was the last for Damon Hill. Ralf Schumacher finished 2nd during that race. For the first time Jordan finished 4th in the Constructors Championship.
In 1999, the team was joined by Heinz-Harald Frentzen to replace Ralf Schumacher who moved to the Williams Team. Damon Hill retired at the end of the 1999 season after a nightmare of a season. However Hill didn't perform well, Frentzen did. He earned 2 victories and a pole position. He finished 3rd in the Drivers' Championship and the team 3rd amongst the Constructors'. 1999 was Jordan's most succesful Formula One season ever.
Jarno Trulli replaced Damon Hill for 2000. Frentzen wasn't so successful as the previous year and the team slipped back to a disappointing 6th in the Constructors' Championship. In 2001 the team started with the same drivers, but again new engines, regular Honda engines this time, which were already being supplied to rival BAR. This would lead to a battle for the right to use the Honda engines in the long term. Frentzen was replaced in mid-season, for unclear reasons to the public, by Ricardo Zonta at the German Grand Prix. Frentzen long-term replacement although was Jean Alesi, who was in the final stage of his Formula One career. Jarno Trulli was able to score points from time to time and the team finished 5th, as it had done many, many times before.
In 2002, Giancarlo Fisichella returned to the Jordan stable and Takuma Sato joined the team. Honda left Jordan to concentrate on their partnership with BAR in 2003. Jordan Grand Prix used Ford Cosworth engines for the season. Only Minardi had a worse year than Jordan in terms of the Constructors' Championship. But the team was able to win the Grand Prix of Brazil which took place in torrential weather conditions. After a confusing race and a more confused podium, Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to celebrate his first career victory on the top step of the podium. Kimi Raikkonen was on the top step, but a few days after the race, the FIA inqiury led to Fisichella being officially declared the winner. Team mate Ralph Firman was injured in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix and Jordan replaced him by Zsolt Baumgartner. Baumgartner was the first Hungarian to drive a Formula One GP.
The 2004 season was a financially struggle for the team. Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano were the Jordan drivers for that season. Pantano was soon replaced by Timo Glock due to commercial difficulties. Jordan had been left without an engine deal for 2005 after Ford Motor Company sold Cosworth. Toyota although agreed to supply Jordan with engines identical to those in the Toyota F1 cars.
At the beginning of 2005, the team was sold out to the Midland Group. In 2006 the name Jordan will vanish and the team will be renamed Midland F1. What will happen with rookie drivers Narain Karthikeyan, the first Indian F1 driver and Tiago Monteiro is not certain yet. But what is for certain is that after the last Grand Prix of the season, the Chinese GP at Shanghai International Circuit, the name Jordan will disappear from the F1 grid for ever.
