Eddie Jordan, owner of Jordan F1 team had to deal with one of his worst moments as a team boss at the 1997 Argentine GP. His drivers Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella crashed, which cost his team a double podium finish. Jordan didn’t let this slide, and inflicted a harsh punishment on his drivers, for their mistake that took a toll on the entire outfit.
In the Formula for Success podcast, Jordan spoke about this difficult moment in a conversation with David Coulthard. Jordan recalled how he was furious with his two drivers, and even threatened to sack them after the race. Of course, he didn’t resort to measures as drastic as that. But he did make sure that Schumacher and Fisichella paid for what they did.
“I reminded them, made them sit for a week. While they [the engineers] repaired the cars in the garage, in the factory in Silverstone. I made sure they came to England, and they had to put in the same amount of hours and times the mechanics did. I wanted them to see the pain they had put on the team.”, said Jordan.
Jordan didn’t want to punish Schumacher and his teammate for the financial mess they had created within an already struggling team. Instead, the irritation that they caused by doing something completely avoidable was what made Jordan go ballistic.
Why Eddie Jordan “went off the scale” with Ralf Schumacher
Team bosses are always on the edge when two of their drivers go toe-to-toe on the track. Jordan, however, was a relatively calm figure on the track as revealed by Coulthard in the podcast. The Briton did see Jordan angry, but when the Irishman narrated what he said to the two drivers after that race, even Coulthard could only imagine just how “off the scale” the 75-year-old went.
Jordan remembers how his 1997 car was arguably the strongest he’d had, and would have in a while. Hence, when he saw they were in a position to win the race with Fisichella in P2 and Schumacher in P3, he wanted them to play the team game.
Instead, Fisichella’s resistance cost the team dearly. What could’ve been a double podium finish or even a possible 1-2, led to a retirement for the Italian driver. Schumacher was able to salvage P3, but it did little to help the morale after the race.
Regardless, Jordan’s relationship with Schumacher seems great at the moment. In the podcast, he told Coulthard that he visits the German former driver’s home very often, and even complimented his wine-making skills!
