Formula 1

Belgian GP Jordan Review

For the first time in his Fl career, Eddie Jordan sat down on Sunday evening to watch the ITV Highlights Programme. "I think I needed to make sure I had not been dreaming," he said. "Damon and I had been invited in as the studio guests to comment on ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

For the first time in his Fl career, Eddie Jordan sat down on Sunday evening to watch the ITV Highlights Programme. "I think I needed to make sure I had not been dreaming," he said. "Damon and I had been invited in as the studio guests to comment on our win. When I watched it back at home, it passed in a bit of a blur. I wouldn't mind watching it again.

But I have not watched the race. I don't feel I need to as I have very vivid memories of the key parts; the re-start and leading into the first corner - that was fabulous, what a great feeling! Ralf's fantastic strategy which saw him move up to 3rd place by the end of the first round of pit stops - a really key team performance, similar to what had been done at Silverstone; and the last eight laps which were so tough because Alesi was right behind us. Of course there was also the Coulthard-Michael Schumacher incident. I think I will remember that in the same way you remember the Senna-Mansell incidents - which is a shame really, but it was part of the race. Being on the podium for the first time as the winning constructor was another great memory, but to be honest, it was not as exciting as I had imagined."

"After the race, I felt very cold and wet after being sprayed with all that champagne! The emotions were overwhelming and by 6 o'clock I really wanted to be home with my family. Marie (my wife) was due to have come to the race, but because of the bad weather the helicopter had not been able to land. I wanted to be with her, and with the children, as they, more than anyone, have had to put up with my moods through all the ups and downs. It was a struggle to get back as we missed the British Airways flight, but our sponsor GdeZ (who loan jets to Jordan Grand Prix) came to our rescue and sent a plane to Liege, My PA, Lindsay, managed to get Oxford to re-open the airport- The controllers went in late at night to switch on the lights - can you imagine?!

Eddie celebrated on Sunday evening with family and close friends. "Being with everyone on Sunday evening, I had flashbacks to how it had all started, how Marie and I had given everything up and left Ireland 21 years ago for this dream of running a motor racing team, it does not seem so daft now ! Monday morning was crazy. I did radio and TV interviews non-stop from 8am, the fax line was ringing continuously, as was my mobile. By 2pm I decided enough was enough, and Marie and I went for a long lunch at the Leatherne Bottel, one of our favourite restaurants on the river in Henley. On Tuesday everyone was back in the factory and I was greeted with chants and singing of'One.two, one-two, one-two'. It was great!"

"This race win is so imrportant for everyone at Jordan. It answers any critics who may have said we were only good at having fun. We won in style, and we made Formula One history by being the first Fl team to have our maiden victory as a 1-2 finish. Perhaps I was imagining it, but I felt as if the engineers and mechanics were walking around the paddock holding their heads high, greeting team members from Williams, McLaren and so on as if to say, 'we are one of you now.' After all, only three teams this year have won races, and we are one of them."

"I believe we can go on from here. We have to fight for third place in the Championship. When you achieve one ambition, you must move onto the next, and we have nothing to lose in aiming for this. If we really get it right, it is a possibility."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Barcelona Tyrrell Briefing on X-Wings

Next article Spanish GP Race Story

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

IndyCar 2026 season review: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 2 h

IndyCar 2026 season review: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Kyle Larson admits he didn't think Cup title was possible in NASCAR champion's speech

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 2 h

Kyle Larson admits he didn't think Cup title was possible in NASCAR champion's speech

Wright Motorsports names full-time 2027 IMSA GTD lineup as Sargent joins Adelson

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 2 h

Wright Motorsports names full-time 2027 IMSA GTD lineup as Sargent joins Adelson

John Klausmeier joins 23XI Racing as technical director

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

3 h

John Klausmeier joins 23XI Racing as technical director

Feature

Discover prime content

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s

Why Rafael Camara should take heart from a tough F1 debut in Brazil

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Rafael Camara should take heart from a tough F1 debut in Brazil

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts