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Former F1 boss reveals Senna was offered 50% of historic team for FREE

The former team principal revealed he had ambitious plans to go into business with a world champion

Tyler Rowlinson

Monday 11 December 2023 21:57

Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan has admitted that he almost went into business with the legendary Ayrton Senna.

The iconic bright yellow of Jordan Grand Prix was a permanent part of the F1 grid for 15 years after they joined the sport in 1991.

Finishing fifth in their debut season, Jordan went on to win four races in their time in F1 until they became Midland in 2006, and had plenty of talented drivers over the years, including Rubens Barrichello, 1996 world champion Damon Hill and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.

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But the Irish team owner has revealed that he held talks with Ayrton Senna to go into business with him off the track, on the condition he raced for the team on it.

Eddie Jordan has revealed he offered half of Jordan Grand Prix to the three-time world champion

Jordan won four races in their 15-year spell in F1

Jordan: 'I offered Senna 50 percent for free'

He explained on the Formula For Success podcast: “I offered him 50%. I never lost touch with him and he was that kind of person, he always wanted to know who was doing what, what’s happening with your children, where are they going.

“And I suddenly realised as a business guy because fundamentally that was in my mind, I felt how am I going to win Grand Prix? How am I going to better the team generally?

“At that stage, he had just brought me [Rubens] Barrichello so we had huge influence in Brazil and the ability of bringing cash.

“So I offered him free of charge 50% of Jordan Grand Prix, which at the time was quite a significant amount of money really but on condition that he would drive for the next two years and he would bring enough money to fund it for that time.

Ayrton Senna's life was tragically cut short around the time discussion were ongoing between him and Jordan

“We were in that particular discussion in 1994 at the beginning of the season and we know what happened at Williams, extraordinarily sad for all sorts of things.”

While Jordan never got to work with Senna, his legacy still lives on strong in the world of F1 and it was destined that he would play a role in the sport for a long time, had it not been for the tragic events at Imola in 1994.

After several takeovers and name changes which saw the likes of Midland, Spyker, Force India and Racing Point entering the sport, the team is still on the grid today, now known as Aston Martin.

Michael Schumacher Damon Hill Ayrton Senna Eddie Jordan Rubens Barrichello