23/08/2025 19:10
After running Martin Brundle in British F3 in the titanic
championship battle with Ayrton Senna in 1983, Eddie Jordan took
the plunge and moved up to F3000 as the decade drew to a close.
F3000 can be considered the modern version of FIA F2, the highest
rung on the ladder below F1, and for 1991, Jordan decided to join
the ranks of grand prix racing, with the iconic Jordan 191 machine.
Decked out in resplendent green, of course, and sporting the 7UP
livery, the car had a V8 Ford Cosworth bolted in the back, and
Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot were hired to pedal the Gary
Anderson-designed machine. After a slow start, in Canada, things
clicked for the team, with a four-five finish with de Cesaris ahead
of Gachot. These were the days when points only went down to sixth
place, and with the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, Williams and
Benetton usually cleaning house, it was a remarkable achievement.
More points came in Mexico, France, Britain, and Germany, with the
fastest lap in Hungary as Jordan would ultimately finish an
incredible fifth in its maiden season, behind only the
aforementioned giants. But events around the Belgian Grand Prix
would make Jordan's season all the more iconic, giving one M.
Schumacher his debut. Off to prison The story of Schumacher's F1
debut actually starts back in December 1990 in central London.
Gachot was stuck in traffic around London's Hyde Park Corner, when
he got into an altercation with a black cab driver, Eric Court.
Gachot sprayed Court with CS Gas, he claimed in self-defence, but
unfortunately for him, CS Gas was an offensive weapon under UK law,
and so in 1991, he found himself on trial. This trial was set for
the week before the Belgian GP at Spa, and to his horror, Gachot
was invited to spend some time inside one of Her Majesty's prisons,
specifically HMP Brixton. He was given an 18-month sentence, and
ultimately the conviction was quashed after a couple of months, but
in the meantime, Jordan needed a driver for Spa. Step forward
Mercedes, who were keen to get their sportscar ace and former
Kerpen go-karter a seat in F1. $150,000 later, B Gachot and the
French tricolour stickers were removed for one bearing M.Schumacher
and the German version. After a quick seat fit and test at
Silverstone, Schumacher was packed off to Spa, a track he promised
Jordan he had raced at before. This proved to be at odds with the
truth, as Schumacher took to learning the fearsome circuit on
nothing more than a bicycle. Famously, Schumacher would place the
Jordan seventh on the grid, behind only Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost,
Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, and Nelson Piquet -
grand prix winners all and world champions some. He was about
seven-tenths faster than de Cesaris in the sister car, but
Schumacher's race would not last all that long. His inexperience
with an F1 clutch meant he burnt it out seconds after the start,
but the impression had been made - and as Ron Dennis would famously
tell Jordan, he was about to experience the Piranha Club's bite.
One letter changes F1 history Jordan, believed, quite rightly that
Schumacher was now his driver, and accordingly moved to sign the
German down to a longer contract. Now, here comes the legal point
that would change F1 history. After the race, Schumacher sent
Jordan a fax saying that, after all, he was "very sorry" but that
he "not going to be able to drive for your team." Schmumacher's
legal team had changed a term in the letter of intent agreed during
the weekend. Originally, it read: 'We will sign 'the' contract in
seven days.' Once the lawyers were done, it read: 'We will sign 'a'
contract in seven days." Now, as any good lawyer will tell you,
'the' and 'a' refer to completely different things. 'The' contract
referred to the deal with Jordan, whilst 'a' contract could mean
anything. Schumacher could have signed a contract with NASA to
become an astronaut. As it happened, Schumacher was crowbarred
into the Benetton in a deal between Flavio Briatore and F1 boss
Bernie Ecclestone, which left Jordan blindsided. Roberto Moreno was
removed from the seat in an effective swap with Schumacher, who was
paired with Piquet, nearing the end of his career. For 1992,
Schumacher was undoubtedly team leader alongside Brundle, and the
F1 record books did not know what was about to hit it.
