Team Principals
Chief Executive - Eddie Jordan
From modest beginnings as a mid-field racing driver in the 1970s Eddie Jordan has, in the space of 20 years, become one of Formula One's biggest players. In what has become a big business sport, dominated by blue chip corporations and motor manufactures, Eddie Jordan is the only entrepreneur to have successfully established an F1 team and to remain its majority shareholder. His charisma, energy and love of life have driven his team, Jordan Grand Prix, into the top three in the World Championship for Constructors.
Jordan began his career as a banker, making the switch to motor racing after experiencing the thrill of karting during a summer spent in Jersey. After progressing through various motor sport categories (see Career Highlights), winning several races and championships, he made his second career switch, this time from driver to team owner. "I was married with one child and another on the way, and we had no money", explains Jordan. "It would have been selfish to continue." And so, in 1980, Eddie Jordan Racing was born.
As Team Owner, Jordan could sell, he could charm, and he knew how to make a race team work; all the necessary ingredients which were to give him almost immediate success. After ten years in the lower formulae, he entered the jewel in motor racing's crown - Formula One - with the creation of Jordan Grand Prix in 1991. The team finished its debut year in an impressive fifth place in the World Championship and brought to the sport an energy and vibrance previously unknown. Nine years on, Jordan Grand Prix boasts a string of victories and membership of the Formula One elite.
Jordan is a key player on the F1 field, negotiating contracts with major sponsors and breaking new ground by securing investment from global equity investor, Warburg, Pincus (Jordan Grand Prix was the first F1 team to gain investment from a financial institution). Alongside the business image, however, Jordan retains his sense of fun. Who else would play drums at an impromptu rock concert or phone home as soon as a race is finished to find out the football scores. "I have been accused of not being a serious operator," says Jordan, "and that used to hurt. But I know what we have achieved and when I look at Jordan's history, from our victories in Formula Ford, F3 and F3000, to our impressive results in F1, I feel very proud. I hope to be able to look back on 1999 as being the season which really gave us the break to move up and become World Champions. I, and the team around me, believe in what we are doing. The question is, how far can we go? I believe we can go all the way."
Head of Engineering - Tim Holloway
Head of Engineering, Tim Holloway, leads Jordan's technical team with a quiet sense of authority. Heading up the same core team which has been responsible for the design and build of the 1999 and 2000 cars, Holloway's modest manner conceals a level of knowledge, competence and professionalism built up over nearly 30 years' experience in the sport. "Heading the Jordan design team is an exciting challenge which I am enjoying immensely," he says.
Holloway began in motor sport with March Engineering in 1975, working through F3, to F2, Indy Cars and then F3000. In 1987 he moved into F1 with the Leyton House March Team as Head of the Drawing Office and as Race Engineer for Ivan Capelli, progressing to Director of Engineering.
In 1995 he joined Jordan Grand Prix, moving through the ranks from Race Engineer, through Chief Engineer to his current role as Head of Engineering which he took up on Mike Gascoyne's departure.
"My role is very much to manage the people in their roles," he explains. "What matters most is team work, and it is my responsibility to ensure the right dynamics between the 53 people in the Engineering department.
The calibre of the people is very high and everyone has an important job to do to make the EJ11 a success. The key jobs are undertaken by John Iley, who's responsible for the aerodynamics, John McQuilliam who is in charge of the rest of the car's design, and Mike Wroe on electronics."
Holloway is a pragmatic man who tells things as they are, without the hype typically found in F1. His sense of excitement at Jordan's new relationship with Honda is therefore all the more encouraging.
"Honda have the potential to have the number one engine in F1, but we have to remember our relationship with them is in its infancy.
The ingredients for success are there - it's up to us to make the relationship work. 2000 was a hiccup for Jordan, although people forget we were on the front row more often than we were in 1999. There is a lot of promise for the future. My ambition is to be with the team that wins races and that's what all of us in the design team are working for."
Managing Director - Trevor Foster
Appointed joint managing director of Jordan Grand Prix in 1998, Trevor Foster, 47, has played a key role in the team's success. As team manager of Eddie Jordan Racing in the 1980s he was responsible for guiding the team to victory in the 1987 British Formula 3 Championship and 1989 FIA Formula 3000 series, before taking the team into Formula One under the new name of Jordan Grand Prix in 1991.
Foster's career spans 30 years, having previously worked with other F1 teams including Tyrrell and Team Lotus. He has also run teams in Formula 3 and Formula Ford 2000, though Formula One dominates his CV.
Following Jordan's acquisition of Benson and Hedges' sponsorship in 1996, it was Foster who masterminded the development of the team, putting resources into new areas of technology and research and development. He is responsible for the day to day management of Jordan Grand Prix in terms of all Formula One team operations and, together with Eddie Jordan, Commercial Director Ian Phillips and Financial Controller Richard O'Driscoll, forms the senior management team of the company.
A keen follower of all forms of motor racing, Foster has sharp eye for up-and-coming talent, having worked with Eddie Jordan to give drivers such as Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Johnny Herbert, Jean Alesi, Martin Donnelly, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine their break into Formula One.
During Grand Prix weekends Foster joins the race engineering team in developing strategy and technical direction for the race.
The Drivers
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