Eddie Jordan fumed at Micheal Schumacher after the legendary German driver snubbed the former’s team for Benetton after just one race. The 55-year-old competed for the Jordan team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, a race at which he qualified an outstanding seventh. However, since Jordan were struggling, Schumacher decided to move to Benetton. Although the move was legally contentious, a letter Schumacher sent to Jordan changed the fate of his entire career.
Before signing up for Jordan, Schumacher had sent Eddie Jordan a letter of intent, charting out the terms of an eventual agreement. On the 22nd of August, 1991, just a day prior to the Belgian GP weekend, Schumacher wrote a letter that originally read, “I confirm that if you enter me in the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, I will sign the driver agreement with you…” However, the final letter that was sent had one key alteration as ‘the‘ was substituted for an ‘a‘.
Schumacher’s manager, Willi Weber, later said in 2005 that it was crucial to make the term ‘the contract‘ to ‘a contract‘ for his move to Benetton to work out. Weber claimed that without that one minor change, Jordan would’ve been able to retain the German and his services as a driver. The change meant that Schumacher did sign ‘a‘ contract to visit the factory twice a year, and this held up in court, too.
It worked out pretty fine for Benetton, too. No one really thought that Schumacher would sign for a rival as the paddock chatter had suggested that he was a committed man to Eddie Jordan.
Michael Schumacher changed the course of F1 over a single weekend
Michael Schumacher was the last hope for Eddie Jordan to secure money to survive as a team owner in the sport. According to the letter of intent sent by Schumacher to Jordan (as quoted by therace.com), the team was to receive almost $200,000 per race from Sauber in 1991 to give the German a seat. Moreover, for 1992 and 1993, Jordan could’ve made a whopping $3.5 million.
On the other hand, Schumacher’s manager, Weber, was looking around the paddock and informed Benetton of the 55-year-old’s availability. Benetton’s Tom Walkinshaw said during the next race weekend at Monza, “The fact is that Schumacher, for whatever reason, had no contract with Jordan. He was a free agent. How anyone can allow a talent like that to be walking around the paddock I don’t know.”
The terms of the deal with Benetton were then finalized very quickly. Schumacher tested the car and both parties seemed happy to kickstart their alliance. In the end, all Eddie Jordan ever got was a fax that read, “Dear Eddie, I’m very sorry but I’m not going to be able to drive for your team.”
