F1 star raced for FREE to beat team that sacked him

Jordan team-mates Damon Hill and Heinz Harald Frentzen in 1999 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Stories

F1 star raced for FREE to beat team that sacked him

Heinz-Harald Frentzen has revealed a remarkable story

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 28 January 2026 19:56

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A former F1 racer has revealed that he raced for free in order to try and defeat the team who had sacked him earlier in the season.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was a household name in 1990s F1, racing with teams such as Williams, Sauber and Jordan, where he claimed two of his three career race victories.

Frentzen raced with Eddie Jordan's eponymous team between 1999 and 2001, before being axed midway through that season and replaced by Jean Alesi.

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Jordan revealed several years later that the termination of Frentzen's contract had actually been down to wanting to get Japanese racer Takuma Sato in for the 2002 season, in order to appease engine supplier Honda.

Alesi's signing to Jordan meant there was a seat available at Alain Prost's team, Prost GP, who were struggling financially at the time.

Frentzen moved to the team owned by the four-time world champion, and he has now revealed he was not paid a single penny for his half season spent with the team who would fold at the end of the year.

The German suggested that he did this simply to try and defeat Jordan and get his revenge.

Posting on X, Frentzen said: "When Eddie sacked me in 2001, I went to Prost GP for the rest of the season. But Alain couldn’t pay me. He said it right away.

"I said 'it’s ok, I race for you for free and my target is to help you to go as fast as possible and my motivation is to beat the Jordans with your help'."

The fate of the Prost GP team

Unfortunately, Frentzen would not be able to exact his revenge on Jordan, with Prost GP finishing down in ninth in the constructors' championship with just four points all season, while Jordan finished up in fifth.

The Prost GP team were in financial ruin following the season, and had to fold, bringing to an end their five-season spell in the sport in which they claimed three podiums and a best result of sixth in the constructors' championship.

But that was not before Prost had exacted a clever trick during pre-season testing that year to try and help the team's situation.

The team ran low fuel setups ahead of the season in order to try and make it look like they would be quicker than they actually were, in an attempt to attract more sponsors and investors to the struggling outfit.

F1 Alain Prost Heinz-Harald Frentzen