Eddie Jordan: I offered Senna a 50% stake in Jordan

Once, more precisely, from 1991 to 2004, Eddie Jordan was the owner and leader of the team that then bore his name, and now, after a whole series of transformations, it has become Aston Martin F1. There were several periods in Jordan’s history, and the general public may not know about some of the episodes.

Jordan recently spoke about one of these very interesting episodes on the Formula for Success podcast.

“In 1982 a man named Jim Wright worked with me, and he was concerned with being my ‘scout’. Among the drivers competing in the youth categories, he was looking for the most promising ones for my Formula 3 team recalls Eddie Jordan. “Usually these riders had very little money and I was able to raise money for my team – that’s how Martin Brundle, Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi came to me.

This Jim Wright came up to me and told me to check out a driver called Da Silva, who took 3rd place at the Formula Ford Festival and was one of the best there, and also did a great job in Formula Ford 2000 for the Rushen The green team.

And I went to Snetterton circuit to watch it. This circuit has tricky S-turns that hardly anyone can drive at full throttle. And I remember this guy flying through these corners at full speed every lap, without making a single mistake.

I thought at the time that he is a really talented racer who understands speed, steering accuracy and stability. I tried to sign him for the 1983 season but couldn’t because he was part of the Marlboro race program and my name wasn’t credible at the time.

As you know, Marlboro sent him to race for the West Surrey Racing team, and then he won the Macau Grand Prix, after which he never competed in Formula 3 again and changed his name, became known as Ayrton Senna.

But we became friends, and a few years later it was he who brought Rubens Barrichello to me.

Gradually Ayrton became disillusioned with the McLaren team, this was before he moved to Williams. He wasn’t happy about anything anymore, and believe me or not, I offered him a free 50% stake in Jordan if he agreed to play for my team. At the same time, he should remain my partner, because I felt that the cost of the team, together with Senna, would be twice as much.

It would make up for my losses, and I thought it could be a really good deal. If one of my cars was driven by a racer like Senna, the team would be recognized and the flow of sponsorship money would increase many times over.

I always liked Ayrton, but unfortunately he died quickly. I won’t say he would have agreed to my proposal, but we went pretty far in the negotiation process because he wanted him to have his own team. And I offered him such an opportunity … “