When Jordan almost became F1 World Champions

Eddie’s first F1 car, designed by fellow Irishman Gary Anderson, set a high bar not only for Jordan Grand Prix but for any new team that followed in its wake. The green Cosworth-powered 191 is considered among the most beautiful from any era and not only embarrassed established teams such as works Ford-powered Benetton, but also gave Michael Schumacher his unforgettable introduction to F1 at Spa.

The same circuit was also the scene of Jordan’s first victory seven years later. Damon Hill led team-mate Ralf Schumacher to a yellow 1-2 at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, what turned out to his 22^nd and last Grand Prix win. A year on, he didn’t exactly leave on a happy note when his F1 career dwindled to a sad halt, to EJ’s fury.

But the pair cleared any lingering resentment. “You didn’t ‘know’ Eddie, you were infected with him from the moment you met him, and you’d never shake it off,” Hill wrote on social media in the wake of his last team boss’ passing. “It’s impossible to think of him not being around because he was in your life like a drug. We were all drawn into his chaos and it was beautiful.”

In contrast, the driver who led Jordan to its best-ever season, as team-mate to Hill in 1999, didn’t appear to get the chance to make peace with his old team boss. Heinz-Harald Frentzen joined Jordan that year after what turned out to be a largely unfulfilling stint at Williams, and promptly used the 199 to not only rebuild his reputation but also carry Eddie to by far his best and most successful F1 season.

Frentzen won two Grands Prix in the Jordan and even briefly looked an outside bet for the Championship – yet within two years had fallen out of favour. Eddie sacked him mid-2001 just before his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim, which went down badly with the German fans. EJ was more than a little nervous for his own welfare that weekend!

Still, in a post on Instagram, Frentzen paid a warm, if sad, tribute. “Eddy [sic] and I had our best season in motor sport together,” he wrote. “Also together we had our ups and downs [that] finally led us [to] separation. After many years since our last contact we were very close to do[ing] a podcast together. Unfortunately life has not given us a chance to do so. We could have spoken about some issues [that have] never been spoken before. Sleep well Eddy.”

That final season of the 1990s was notable on numerous counts. The 199 was a sharper evolution of Jordan's first Grand Prix winner as momentum grew from solid midfielder status to genuine frontrunner. The team had amassed strength in depth in its engineering pool.

Highly rated technical Mike Gascoyne led the design team with engineering director Tim Holloway, with long-time Jordan mainstay Mark Smith as chief designer and experienced ex-McLaren man Bob Bell newly arrived from Benetton. John Iley, a close ally to Gascoyne, was head of aero – and the combination came up with a peach of a car, powered by a potent Mugen-Honda V10.

Frentzen and Jordan immediately got off on the right foot at the season opener in Australia. As poor reliability stopped McLaren’s Häkkinen and David Coulthard, and Schumacher was forced to start from the back as he struggled to engage first gear, the door unexpectedly opened for Irvine to claim his first F1 win. Only a second behind him was Frentzen who beat his Williams replacement Ralf Schumacher, who had left Jordan at the end of 1998, to third.

Another podium followed at round two as Frentzen finished a distant third, one lap down on Häkkinen and Schumacher. At this stage, such results were coming to Jordan through the unreliability of others, but Eddie wouldn’t have cared. His man was on equal points with Häkkinen at this stage, two behind unexpected Championship leader Irvine. How refreshing.

Inevitably, as the season got fully into gear, the natural order was restored as Schumacher won two on the bounce at Imola and Monaco, then Häkkinen hit back in a dull race in Spain and a much more eventful one in Montréal to claim the points lead. As for Frentzen, he’d added a fourth at Imola, but lost a likely second place in Canada when a brake disc disintegrated just four laps from home.

Next up, Magny-Cours. The French Grand Prix turned out to be a classic as Frentzen and Jordan pulled off a strategic masterstroke. Rain had already mixed up the grid and come the Grand Prix a torrential downpour resulted in 11 laps run behind the safety car, a total of five race leaders and eight changes of lead. What won Frentzen the race was a daring single-stop strategy.

He’d come in on lap 22, cycled through to the lead when Häkkinen and Rubens Barrichello’s Stewart made their second stops, then stayed put, conserving his fuel to claim a clever and carefully calculated victory. The laps behind the safety car had been key, allowing Frentzen to save enough fuel to run to the end. But HHF deserved plenty of credit, too, calmly staying on the track when many around him were spinning.

The British Grand Prix followed as Schumacher’s season came to a sudden halt in the tyre wall at Stowe, breaking his leg in the crash and continuing Ferrari’s 20 year wait for a Drivers’ Title. In a season which had looked set for another tight re-run of Schumacher vs McLaren’s Mika Häkkinen, it now appeared as though the Finn would have an open run to a second successive title, only for both the driver and McLaren to make heavy weather of it through late summer.

In Schumacher’s absence, Eddie Irvine unexpectedly stepped up to become Ferrari’s focus. Frentzen, meanwhile, revelled in his new lease of life. Buoyed by his French victory, Frentzen stepped up and began to score well and consistently: fourth at Silverstone, fourth in Austria and a third at Hockenheim behind the two Ferraris, Irvine handed a second consecutive win by stand-in team-mate Mika Salo who played a blinder (and stoically gave up the best chance he would ever have of winning a Grand Prix).

Not for the first time, McLaren imploded from a dominant position, this time through a fuel rig problem for Häkkinen and then a puncture. Sensationally, Irvine now led the championship on 52 points, with Häkkinen on 44 – and Frentzen third on 33.

Over the next three races Jordan continued to score: fourth in Hungary, a fine third at Spa behind only Coulthard and Häkkinen (no McLaren team orders? Ferrari wouldn’t have allowed it). Then it was Monza.

Häkkinen had reassumed the Championship lead following a win in Hungary and that second at Spa, as Irvine began to toil. But in Italy, Mika dropped the ball – and delivered one of the defining images of the season. Out front and in total command, the Finn somehow managed to spin out at the first chicane, then, in front of a delighted Tifosi, wept in some trackside bushes.

Frentzen, who had started on the front row beside Häkkinen, picked up the pieces. Now the points read: Häkkinen 60, Irvine 60… Frentzen, 50. Jordan’s ace was only ten off the top. Might he have a shot?

Frentzen didn’t score at a topsy-turvy wet European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, as Johnny Herbert scored a sensational win for Stewart. Then Schumacher returned – somewhat against his own wishes – to support Irvine in Malaysia. The Ferraris controlled the race, with Schumacher handing Irvine the win and the points lead while holding off Häkkinen. But then both Ferraris were disqualified in a controversy over illegally-sized aerodynamic ‘barge boards’ – the appendages positioned behind the front wheels.

When the FIA ruled against its own stewards and reinstated Irvine and Schumacher before the Suzuka finale, much of the watching world cried ‘fix’! As it was, it didn’t matter. Häkkinen seized the lead from pole-sitter Schumacher at the start and won in a style befitting a two-time World Champion. He was just two points clear of Irvine.

As for Frentzen, he finished fourth in Japan and ended the season just 12 points away from champion Häkkinen. He’d won huge and deserved credit for his campaign.

The opposite was the case for hapless Hill. He scored just seven points to Frentzen’s 54 and appeared to simply give up in that Suzuka finale. It seemed he’d been going through the motions for much of the season and most – including everyone at Jordan – were relieved to see him walk away from F1.

The yellow team had finished a fine third and appeared set to press on into the new millennium. In reality, the financial struggles that had always pressed the privateer were only mounting, and Eddie was ducking and diving like never before to keep the team afloat. Instead of momentum building, it began to deflate, before Jordan finally bowed to the inevitable and sold up at the end of 2005.

But what a ride it had been. It wouldn’t – and couldn’t – happen in quite the same way now. Eddie Jordan made his mark, and will never be forgotten.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.