Irvine Stands Up for Jordan

Eddie Irvine has defended Eddie Jordan for sacking Heinz-Harald Frentzen and said the team boss had learned a hard lesson from Damon Hill.

Jordan abruptly fired former race winner Frentzen on Wednesday, just days before he was due to compete at his home Formula One Grand Prix this weekend. The action drew criticism from both the Schumacher brothers, unusually supportive of their compatriot in a news conference on Thursday, and Irvine clearly felt Irishmen should stick together too.

"I think people keep forgetting where EJ (Eddie Jordan) came from and where he got to and he didn't get there by being a sucker," the Jaguar driver said after Friday's free practice at Hockenheim. Jordan, a former racer in junior series who once sold used cars while dreaming of greater things, started his Formula One team from a lock-up garage at Silverstone in 1990. He is now seriously wealthy.

"I think the Damon Hill experience burned him badly and I don't think maybe he was prepared to have the same thing happen to him twice," said Irvine, despite Jordan's earlier insistence to the contrary. "So there's probably some leftover from that. He wants results as much as anyone else does.

"Formula One is about doing the job and doing the job you get paid lots of money. If you don't then go and lie on a boat. It's that simple," said Irvine.

The Northern Irishman, who has both a large boat and plenty of money, drove for Jordan from 1993-95 before being signed by Ferrari as Michael Schumacher's teammate.

Fastest Time

Irvine has had his fair share of critics but he showed on Friday he can still do the business with the fastest time in free practice. Hill, the 1996 World Champion with Williams, raced for Jordan in 1998 and 1999, Frentzen's first season with the Irish entrepreneur's team.

His final year was marked by a falling off in the Briton's race form and consequent indecision about whether or not he should retire mid-season. Hill eventually stuck it out to the end of the year.

"EJ had a season where Damon was underperforming, he was getting the wages of a Formula One driver but wasn't doing the job of a top Formula One driver for whatever reason," commented Irvine. "And EJ doesn't want that to happen again, I assume that's what he sees happening. If I were a team owner I wouldn't do that and pay someone to drive the car slowly.

"I'm not saying Frentzen was driving the car slowly but everyone's here because of what they can do, not because of what they did. I think EJ did what he feels is best for him and everyone in this pitlane is doing what is best for them and nothing else. It wouldn't be Formula One if it wasn't like that.

"I don't know whether Heinz has been performing or not really... but if you don't perform, and I assume they said he wasn't performing, then ciao."

Jordan, speaking earlier to reporters, insisted that the Frentzen case had no parallels with Hill's final season.

"This has got nothing to do with what happened to Damon," he said. "Heinz and I, his manager and ours, couldn't agree. We were both upset about performance," he said.