Former Jordan driver Ralf Schumacher has opened up on the row he once had with former team owner, Eddie Jordan. After Jordan claimed that Schumacher left his team for money, the 48-year-old ensured to clear up the air. The German revealed that he never left Jordan to join Williams for money but because of the argument, he had with Eddie Jordan. Ralf Schumacher has now revealed that the situation between him and Jordan got so tense that even his brother, Michael Schumacher, got involved at one point.
Ralf and Eddie discussed the same while appearing on the most recent episode of the Formula for Success podcast. Eddie began the conversation by explaining how Michael once angrily came up to him and told him that Ralf would never drive for him again following the debacle of the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix.
During that race, Ralf was catching up to his Jordan teammate Damon Hill but was ordered not to pass him since the side wanted to have a 1-2 finish. As a result, Michael Schumacher was upset with Eddie as he believed that the Jordan team cost Ralf a win.
Since Ralf went on to leave the team eventually, Eddie has claimed he did it for the money. However, Ralf made sure to clarify the same by replying, “You forgot why? You really forgot why“. The 48-year-old then stated,
“EJ called me and told me that we have a shit*y car but we desperately need the points before Silverstone. And he told me that if you don’t score points, you’re out of the car“.
The German then revealed that Eddie’s remarks annoyed him to such an extent that he just did not want to work with the Irish businessman anymore. However, it was not simple for Ralf to leave the Jordan team because of the terms of his contract with the team.
Michael Schumacher paid Eddie Jordan $2 million to help Ralf leave Jordan
While speaking on the F1 Nation podcast in August 2021, Eddie Jordan explained the terms of Ralf Schumacher’s contract with the Jordan team. The Irish businessman explained how Ralf Schumacher had a buyout clause of $2 million and Michael Schumacher needed to pay the same if he wanted his brother to leave the team before his contract expired.
Speaking of the same, Eddie said (as quoted by racingnews365.com), “I said, ‘It’s very simple, Michael. Have a look at the contract. You’re very good at looking at contracts. There’s a buyout clause. It’s two million quid. Pay me the two million and you can take him (Ralf) wherever you like’. And that’s what he did“.
Consequently of this heated argument between Eddie and Michael, Ralf paid the $2 million and went on to drive for Williams from the 1999 season onwards. Eddie believed that Michael was “good at looking at contracts” because of the way the 55-year-old himself left the Jordan team back in 1991.
At the time of signing his contract with Jordan, Michael sent Eddie a letter of intent. He cleverly wrote to Eddie that he would sign “a driver agreement” instead of “the driver agreement” if the Jordan team entered him for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix.
This one change of word allowed Michael to leave the Jordan team after just one race and sign an agreement with Benetton. However, Michael did adhere to the terms of his contract with Jordan as well.
He did visit the team’s factory twice a year as per the terms of his deal with Jordan. Although a furious Jordan team took Michael to court, they were unable to win the case because of that one crucial word that the 55-year-old wrote in his letter of intent.
