Formula One losing its history says Jordan

Eddie Jordan believes big engine manufacturers entering Formula One has made it very difficult for any entrepreneurial-style team owners to enter the sport. Jordan himself entered F1 in 1991 as a team owner but since then the costs have soared with ...

Eddie Jordan believes big engine manufacturers entering Formula One has made it very difficult for any entrepreneurial-style team owners to enter the sport. Jordan himself entered F1 in 1991 as a team owner but since then the costs have soared with major car manufacturers joining and teams would find it hard to survive without the support of a big name behind them.

Eddie Jordan.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

"In one sense I applaud the arrival of big manufacturers, but it has made it more difficult for anyone coming in as a team owner," Jordan said. "Can anyone ever see another Jordan coming in today? No way. And that is very sad."

"Frank Williams, for example, has said that for the first time he would welcome investment from BMW. That's a big turnaround from three years ago. It's like a guy realising that he never wants to be without a manufacturer because he can't survive. And there's a man who has been through everything."

The Irishman thinks people like F3000 team owner David Sears would have been in F1 if it wasn't for the rapid increase in financial overheads: "Then you think about guys who should be in F1. People like David Sears. He's done a great job in F3000, was a great driver with a good brain and is a nice guy. In my view he should be here with his own F1 team and if it had been 15 years ago I'm sure it would have happened."

Jordan is disappointed that the big-money market F1 has become has lost the historical importance of the sport: "That part of it is disappointing. We seem to be losing what historically F1 used to be. Okay, names like Lotus and Jack Brabham have gone, but slowly and surely it is eroding. But because it's not all happening at the same time, it's not being perceived as a crisis."