Johnny Herbert on the man who made him, Eddie Jordan

Every time I saw Eddie, he’d say, ‘I made you!’, which goes all the way back to Formula 3. I knew of his own racing – he wasn’t a bad driver – and at the end of 1986 I saw him at the Grovewood Awards. He said, ‘Has anyone signed you yet?’ and I said no, so basically on the back of a napkin we did a deal.

He had backing from Stelrad so had about three-quarters of a budget and was able to give me the chance – I had no budget. He had been close to the F3 title before and he was desperate to win it. Obviously he found the right driver! When it did happen you could tell in his body language the lift it gave him. The dream of F1 was there, that’s what he wanted to do.

In F3000 we had no sponsorship. In Spain [at Jerez] for the opening race of 1988 I put it on pole and he rang Camel. They said they’d already done their deals but they agreed to a meeting the following week if I won the race – I think just to get him off the phone! Before the race he went to other teams and got a Camel sticker to put on the car. I won the race, he had his meeting and he got Camel sponsorship for the next two years…

Johnny Herbert, Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard 88D

Photo by: Motorsport Images

That was Eddie. It didn’t matter to him if a deal was £1.50, it was a deal. What he achieved was impressive and he was refreshing when he came into F1.

He had a strength – the people he had were a part of the family. He was part of theirs and they were part of his. He had an ability to get the best out of people and had people like Bosco Quinn and Andy Stevenson who were important and loyal. It was all the little ingredients that he took all the way to F1.

He was good at giving drivers opportunities, like Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen after his time at Williams. He was always aware of the talent. When Frentzen came it was like a family, like he’d had at Sauber, after the hard time at Williams. You made the driver comfortable. He had an eye for talent and an eye for how to put it together.

He’s left a wonderful legacy. It was a lovely period and it was beautiful to have Eddie in F1.