The Irish sporting world and the F1 community at large is in mourning this Thursday after the death of Eddie Jordan at the age of 76.
Jordan passed away in Cape Town with his family at his side after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer.
Dubliner Jordan became a major figure in Irish sport in the early 1990s when he brought his junior racing team EJR to Formula 1 under the name of Jordan Grand Prix.
Over the next decade-and-a-half, Jordan were to establish themselves as one of the leading teams in Formula 1. The 1999 season saw them finish a record 3rd in the teams' championship, while they would win four Grands Prix during their heyday in the late '90s and early 2000s.
Eddie Jordan was truly the driving force behind their success. An entrepeneur from Dublin, it was Jordan's drive that made his eponymous team so successful against all odds. No privateer team has scaled such heights in the years since Jordan's exit in 2005.
Alongside their success on the track, Jordan had a trademark sense of fun. They made bold choices with their car liveries, invited wacky guests to the garage, and their late team principal was a beloved figure in the paddock known as much for his love of music as his love of racing.
Above all, Eddie Jordan had a remarkable eye for young talent. Perhaps the greatest legacy he leaves behind is the remarkable list of F1 legends who got their shot at one of EJ's teams, whether that be in Formula 1 or the junior categories.
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Eddie Jordan's remarkable collection of F1 protegés
Michael Schumacher
We start with arguably the biggest name in F1 history who, remarkably, was given his debut by Jordan Grand Prix in the Irish team's debut season in 1991.
When regular driver Bertrand Gachot was ruled out of the Belgian Grand Prix after being imprisoned for a...disagreement with a London taxi driver, Eddie Jordan was left scrambling for someone to fill his second car at Spa.
In stepped highly-rated German youngster Michael Schumacher, who stunned the racing world by qualifying the hitherto-midfield Jordan in P7 on his first outing. Unfortunately, Schumacher would be forced out of the race with car troubles on the very first lap.
However, what he had shown on his singular outing with Jordan was enough to convince Benetton to give Schumacher a full-time contract. He would go on to win two championships there and a further five at Ferrari - a record seven total that he still shares to this day with Lewis Hamilton.
And it all started in that green-and-blue 7Up-adorned Jordan car of 1991...
Rubens Barrichello
Schumacher's future Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello was another major F1 star given his first drive at the top level by Eddie Jordan.
The Brazilian made his bow in the 1993 season, putting in a sensational performance in the European Grand Prix and being desperately unlucky not to deliver the team's first podium finish when he ran into late reliability issues.
He would finally achieve that accolade at the following season's Pacific Grand Prix at Aida, coming home in 3rd behind Schumacher and the Ferrari of Nicola Larini. Barrichello also delivered the team's first-ever pole position at that year's Belgian Grand Prix.
Barrichello retired almost 20 years after his debut in 2011, having won 11 Grands Prix across stints with Ferrari and Brawn. At the time of his retirement, he had started more F1 races (322) than any other driver in history.
Eddie Irvine
Alongside the immense performance of Jordan in the 1999 Constructors' Championship, Northern Irishman Eddie Irvine finished an agonising 2nd in the drivers' title race to Mika Hakkinen.
Then driving for Ferrari, Irvine had been given his first F1 drive by Jordan at the tail end of the 1993 season, earning an impressive P6 on debut for the Irish team. His debut is, however, best remembered for his altercation with Ayrton Senna.
The legendary Brazilian driver won that Japanese GP, but not before Irvine unceremoniously unlapped himself en route to the points. Enraged at the perceived disrespect from the rookie, Senna sought Irvine out in the Jordan area of the paddock post-race and threw a punch at the County Down man.
Irvine would line out full time for Jordan in the '94 and '95 seasons, taking his first podium at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix. His performances in the Jordan car earned him a drive at Ferrari from 1996.
Martin Brundle
Martin Brundle may be best known to the new generation of F1 fans as the face of Sky's live race day coverage but, in his day, he was a mightily fast racing driver.
Brundle spent 13 seasons in Formula 1 but, before that, he had been one of the biggest stars of British motorsport's junior categories. The pinnacle of his time in the junior categories came in the famous 1983 British F3 Championship, when he shared a gripping title battle with Ayrton Senna.
The car provided to Brundle in that 1983 championship by Eddie Jordan Racing propelled him to stardom and delivered him 2nd in the standings with seven race wins.
Brundle made his F1 debut the following year and spent well over a decade at the pinnacle of motorsport. Rather fittingly, with his former team Jordan now established in Formula 1, Brundle finished his F1 career with a single season with the Irish team in 1996.
On Thursday, Brundle led the tributes to his former team principal.
Ralf Schumacher
Like his brother Michael, Ralf Schumacher was given his Formula 1 debut by Jordan in the mid-1990s.
The Schumachers remain the only brothers to have both won F1 Grands Prix, and Ralf got his first podium in the sport with Jordan at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix (the site of the team's first race win).
The circumstances in which Schumacher was told to hold position in P2 at that '98 race win rankled the German, who left the team at the end of the season for Williams, where he won six races in the 2000s.
However, he and Jordan would reconcile in the years after his departure. When Schumacher came out as gay last year, it was Jordan who delivered perhaps the most heartfelt and poignant message to his old friend.
Damon Hill
Another driver trusted by Eddie Jordan in the junior categories, Damon Hill - son of double world champion Graham - spent his final year in the feeder series with Barclay Team EJR in 1991.
By this time, Jordan's focus was switching to Formula 1, but they remained a key player in Formula 3000. Hill took home a podium for the EJR team in F3000 in '91, enough to secure him P7 in the championship and earn him a test drive with Williams.
He would cement his place at Williams as the 1990s progressed, ultimately winning the 1996 drivers' title after consecutive years as runner-up.
He repaid the faith Eddie Jordan had placed in him in 1998. Rejoining his old team principal, Hill signed for Jordan for the '98 F1 season and delivered the team's first Grand Prix victory in legendary style at the Belgian Grand Prix.
One of the great F1 moments was Jordan 1-2 at Spa in 1998. Everyone willing Damon Hill home in the wet and Eddie Jordan covered in Champagne on the podium. RIP. pic.twitter.com/KQmC1Pg01x
— Matt W (@MattinW00lwich) March 20, 2025
It remains one of the brightest days in Irish sporting history.
Johnny Herbert
Johnny Herbert was one of F1's biggest characters in the 1990s, and he had much of his rise to stardom to attribute to Eddie Jordan.
Herbert won the 1987 British F3 Championship in an Eddie Jordan Racing car, and was given a shot at the legendary Macau Grand Prix that same year by EJ.
After a further year in International F3000 with EJR, Herbert was given his F1 debut by Benetton in 1989. The Englishman went on to win three Grands Prix during a decade-long F1 career.
Jean Alesi
Like Martin Brundle, Jean Alesi would finish his 13-year F1 career with Jordan. Like Johnny Herbert, he had Eddie Jordan to thank in no small part for getting his big break in the first place.
Midway through the 1989 season, the iconic Tyrrell team were left searching for a new driver after their sponsorship deal with Camel led to the departure of Marlboro-backed Michele Alboreto.
The team looked to International F3000 for their replacement, and they happened upon Jordan driver Alesi, who was leading the championship.
Frenchman Alesi would win a single Grand Prix in his career, for Ferrari at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, and spent the 2001 season at Jordan to bring the curtain down on his time at the top.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Another driver who returned to Jordan in F1 having raced with them in the junior categories.
Frentzen partnered Eddie Irvine in his first year in International Formula 3000 for Eddie Jordan Racing in 1990, eventually making his way to Formula 1 with Sauber in 1994.
F1 runner-up in 1997 with Williams, Frentzen was reunited with EJ in the iconic yellow-and-black Benson and Hedges cars for the 1999 season. With two wins in that '99 campaign and 3rd place in the championship, Frentzen remains Jordan's most successful-ever representative in Formula 1.
RIP Eddy Jordan pic.twitter.com/dcWHYhqjal
— Heinz Harald Frentzen (@frentzen_hh) March 20, 2025
Takuma Sato
Given his F1 debut by Jordan in 2002, Sato's best result in the yellow car was a brilliant P5 at his home Japanese Grand Prix.
Sato drove in F1 until 2008, though is perhaps best known for winning the illustrious Indy 500 twice in 2017 and 2020.
The list of names above is rife with titans of Formula 1 and of the motorsport world, all of whom made their way there thanks in no small part due to the trust placed in them by Eddie Jordan.
Perhaps most telling of Jordan's character is the amount of drivers who served under the Irishman in the junior categories and then returned to work alongside him in Formula 1.
A man with an impeccable eye for talent and an exuberant personality, Eddie Jordan is an immense loss to the motorsport world.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
SEE ALSO: The Story Of How Eddie Jordan And His Team Made History With Their First F1 Race Win
