Eddie Jordan names F1 driver that made ‘ridiculous’ demands when joining his team

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Eddie Jordan is known for bringing through some of the biggest names in Formula 1 in his years as a team principal.

Whether it is giving Michael Schumacher his debut, Rubens Barrichello, Jean Alesi, or Takuma Sato, there has been no shortage of top class drivers.

During the 1998 season, former driver Damon Hill made the switch to Jordan after a tumultuous year at Arrows in 1997.

Jordan recalls the ‘demands’ that were made by Hill’s camp on the Formula for Success podcast, which almost led to him not being signed by the team.

Damon Hill had ‘ridiculous’ demands when driving for Jordan

Facing another year in an uncompetitive car, Hill was likely going to retire from F1 if he did not achieve a better seat elsewhere.

Discussing what it was like to drive for the midfield team, Jordan spoke about how cigarette sponsors helped enable the deal to let Hill race for them.

“When Damon came, his demand was ridiculous by my standards. And I said, listen, Benson and Hedges, it’s very simple. You want him for publicity. You want him because he’s British. You want him because he’s a world champion,” said Jordan.

That’s fine, but he would not be my choice based on the money that he’s costing. And you either stump up the money or you just let it roll. And they stumped up the money, which I was very glad about because I didn’t have to pay for it.”

Damon Hill carries Jordan to first win

The decision to employ Hill turned out to be a good one for Jordan, as it is what enabled them to take their first victory at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, albeit in controversial circumstances when they decided to employ team orders to prevent teammate Ralf Schumacher from overtaking him.

The Jordan 198 proved to be competitive in pre-season testing but was plagued with unreliability in the races due to the switch to Mugen Honda engines that year from Peugeot.

Technical director Gary Anderson made a secret trip to Japan in an attempt to find the cause of their poor reliability, while a lot of work was done to generate more performance before the midpoint of the season.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Jordan did not have its wind tunnel onsite which put it at a significant disadvantage to other teams such as Ferrari and McLaren. When the conditions proved to be difficult at Spa that year, Hill took his chance and carried them across the line.

The team is now reformed under the Aston Martin guise who look set to employ Adrian Newey, having also just built and opened its brand new factory as a result of investment from billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll.