Eddie Jordan Q&A

"I may have got my sums wrong. I was very optimistic about the car at the beginning, and I felt we'd made very good progress. But a number of things happened. BMW came in as a works team, and obviously there was a works Jaguar team. The emphasis was clearly changing towards factory engines. Having a customer engine, like ourselves and the people with Supertecs, wasn't going to be an easy task. I don't want to make that our excuse. Our reliability at the beginning wasn't good, and later the unfortunate driver incidents, where through no fault of their own our drivers had very good potential finishes taken from them through coming-togethers in racing incidents with other people, when we were very well positioned. Could we have got 60-something points like the previous year? I don't think so. From that respect, it was disappointing. But I think in some respects the podium at Indy helped us mentally."



"That's possible, but we still won a number of races, so I don't agree. I think we were still able to carry the fight to McLaren and Ferrari better. In 2000 there weren't a lot of spare points around, if you know what I mean. Benetton were the only team to finish second, other than McLaren and Ferrari, and only after Coulthard was disqualified. In years gone by, in 1998 and '99, Jordan were able to win races. That didn't happen last season."



"I just think that overall we didn't have the speed. Whether it be the car, or whatever. The driver line-up is very strong. I think the fairer assessment will be 2001, when we have the works Honda engine. We have to perform. There is no excuse. It's an unbelievable opportunity, and I've got to make the most out of it."



"We had a major problem where we brought out a major development gearbox, which was more in line with what Ferrari and McLaren had, or certainly McLaren. It was ultra lightweight. But it was fragile. We led the race in Australia, and the gearbox failed on the car. It took us a bit of a while to sort that out. It turned out to be a bigger problem than first envisaged. The problem is that we lost momentum. We did get seven points in Brazil, but had we got six points or so in Australia, and then picked up four here and five there, we would have been off, and I think it would have been impossible to catch us. The problem was initially the gearbox. With things like that you lose development time. You lose time for bringing the car forward in other areas. I think that hurt us a lot more than what the results show."



"In 1999 the reliability was so good with the car, we knew it was at the end of its line. Last year was the start of a new type of car with Jordan, which was much closer to the edge, technically and weight wise, with the electronics and all sorts of things. And I think we suffered and paid the penalty. But if we were able to get out of fourth position then it would have been a very worthwhile exercise in terms of taking the risk factor into play. It will stand us greatly in the future. With the car we had in 1999 we weren't going to be in the position to make significant headway. It was reliable and aerodynamically efficient, and people often say 'Leave well enough alone.' But in F1 you can't do that. If you try to stay with a philosophy for more than a couple of months, you are just dead in the water. The technology advances being made now are so unbelievably great, you just get left behind."



"I don't know why, but Monaco always seems to catch me out. In '98 it was the reason that we redesigned the car. It was so bad that we were dicing with Minardi. No reflection on Minardi, but we shouldn't be in that position. It made me re-do a whole lot of other things that brought about the one-two at Spa later on in the year. Last year we should have finished second and third at Monaco. It would have been another 10 points in the bag. But we didn't get them. There's no point in crying about it. We didn't take advantage when they were available, for all sorts of different reasons, and we've got to make sure we've learned our lessons. This year there will be a huge responsibility, there will be a lot of pressure. Not just on ourselves, but on everybody. History shows that when Honda comes into Grand Prix racing they have won championships, with monotonous regularity. We don't want to be the team that hasn't delivered the fair share of the goodies for them when they came back. We've got to show them that the decision that they made to go with Jordan was the right one."



"It was such a big surprise. It kept everyone alive in terms of the hope factor."



"To be quite honest I was surprised, I have to say. We weren't quick enough there, for a variety of reasons. We had too much downforce, and there were a number of factors. But given the car that Heinz had, he did an unbelievably professional job there. He was very fair, he never weaved once, and yet Jacques couldn't pass him. That's a true sign I believe of a very mature professional. The fact that he wasn't always looking in the mirror, and yet he must have known where Jacques was a lot of the time. The key thing was when Jacques did make a big effort to pass him at the end of the straight, Heinz had enough awareness not to turn in and cause both of them to go off. Jacques clearly wasn't going to make the corner. I thought it was a very fine performance in a car that wasn't as good."



"I wouldn't say he lost motivation. I think there was some sense of frustration. I think that Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes upped their game, and it was pretty much inevitable after the first two races that the speed had appeared to have gone away from us. I always find it a disturbing factor when it's contract renewal time. He had a big offer from another team. Should he do it, or shouldn't do it, where's his career going, what does he want to do. He had a new baby. I don't think it was anything to do with motivation. I think there may have been a number of peripheral things that may have given that impression. There were a number of frustrating things that happened, with the car not being reliable enough in the beginning, and then coupled with changing the family structure, new contact time, all these offers, they must have had their effect, even subconsciously."



"I think Jarno has been positive. Damon retired, and this time last year no one knew how Jarno was going to turn out. I think he has moved on. He and Heinz will be a very strong team together this year. Both of them are very quick, they play against each other. There's absolutely no doubt that Jarno is absolutely into the qualifying situation. He's so determined to outqualify everybody, and particularly his team mate. That's a very healthy situation. And that's indicated by Jarno being on the front row twice, to Heinz's one."



"I've always had huge regard for him, on a personal basis. He's a lovely boy. When he can get away from Jenson Button in a race let's see what he can do, and then we can make a better appraisal. But I'm very pleased with him. Jenson and him seemed to have this magnetic attraction to each other, and if they were more sensible both of them would score vastly more points."



"Jarno is emotional, full stop. He wears his heart on his sleeve. There's no side to him. You know how he's feeling by the way you talk to him."



"No, I don't think so. I think Ayrton Senna was a very emotional person. Some people may call it a Latin temperament. I don't think he's Latin at all. Under pressure he's amazing, brilliant. What you see is what you get. I don't think anything is contrived; it's all very natural, and it's there. You ask him a question and you get an answer, and I would stake my life on it being a true and fair and accurate reply to what you've asked. Is he emotional and is it a deterrent? I don't think so. There's emotion and there's commitment, and his commitment is par excellence."



"One of the areas of becoming a great driver as opposed to a very, very good one is knowing your position on the track, and knowing how to avoid those first lap things. I think Jarno has learned the basic rudiments of that! The pain that those incidents have caused him, and the loss of points... He's beginning to understand that although he may have a very definite line, that maybe the quickest line for him may not always be the best line in the middle of the heated battle of a race."



"Sometimes. It may not be in his nature, but it may have to be part of his overall package in the future."



"At the time it was very disappointing. Mike wasn't to know that I was concluding or hoping to conclude a Honda deal. He was offered a long-term five-year deal with Renault, and on that basis he took it. Mike is an ambitious guy, and he thought that his future would be better served there. I was deep in conversation with Honda at the time, and there was nothing I could say to him, or wanted to. He chose to go. We've replaced him with Eghbal Hamidy, whenever he comes, and we wish Mike well."



"There's always a risk when there's competition. That's part of the joy of it. Somehow or another Michelin will do a very good job. We had the opportunity, but the connection between us and Bridgestone goes back a long way. I like the people, I like the commercial people and the technical people. Also there's the connection between us and Honda - that was one of the key issues."



"I've learned over the years never just to assume, otherwise things never move on. On the basis that Williams were top dogs for some time, and they moved aside somewhat to let McLaren in, I think it's time for another team to hone in on the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. I have to believe that it's got to be Jordan. Don't automatically assume that we won't be able to beat them. On the same basis don't automatically assume that we'll be number three in the pecking order at Bridgestone."



"Because it was embedded in the middle of the season, when we initially talked about it I was sceptical. It was the first week in September, we needed a break, and it was another weekend that we perhaps didn't need to do. As it happened it did turn out to be amazing. It did blow me away, mainly because 90% of the people who were there had Jordan gear on, one way or another. It was quite startling. Sometimes you don't fully realise what hard core fan base we have. There was no F1 race, yet there were thousands. There are different viewpoints as to whether it was 12, 15 or 21,000, I've heard all three figures. But whatever happened we were able to monitor the concert in the evening, and there were 6,500 people at that. It was jammed - we couldn't get another person in, and that was amazing. Both drivers, all of the team were there. I don't think I've ever signed so many autographs in a day. There were queues 300m long, which is ridiculous in some ways. It was for me a big eye opener. I think the highlight was playing The Boys Are Back In Town with Thin Lizzy! But most people would think that's what they'd expect me to say. But the other highlight I suppose was just the happiness on people's faces. We put on a good show, there were a lot of nice old F1 cars there, and there was a collection of our own. It was nice to see John Watson and Andrea de Cesaris, who were our first drivers. It was mind blowing. It was like a race that you never expect to win. Going to Donington I didn't expect it, because I hadn't really given it enough thought. Things were good and bad on the track, there were all sorts of things happening, and I hadn't time to think about it. I simply arrived there. It was super. It was the people inside Jordan who did it, it had nothing to do with me. If anything I was hesitant about it, if only because one week after another is just becoming too much. That's why I'm so happy to see this three week gap in this next season."