Why did Jordan fall off in 2000?

For anybody who remembers Jordan was at no. 3 team in 1999, what were the reasons why it was unable to follow up on its strong 1999 performance? They still had the same engines and Frentzen and Trulli were talented drivers back then.

 

Probably because others caught up, etc. In F1, innovation is always on going. Maybe they lacked personnel to work on the car, etc.

 

Money.

 

They still had plenty of sponsor dollar at the time, including benson hedges...

2000 was a very competitive year for the mid fielders (3 points separating 4th to 6th, none between 4 and 5) and Williams stepped their game up and had the hugely powerful BMW engine.

Even though they where close to 4th in the constructors, this has a big effect on the money they get from F1. The result in 2000 ultimately was their downfall along with the loss of the cigarette advertising. Their lowish position in the constructors made it harder to get a big money sponsor.

 

Yes. That's exactly the main reason. He didn't make ​​good money management and he also he didn't take any risks..

 

Why money? 1999 was their most succesful year ever, they finished 3rd in the championship and in theory they got more money than ever.

Some say that in 1999 they managed to find a loop-hole that allowed them to use some sort of traction control; that loop-hole was closed for the 2000 season, no trick=no wins. Also, the car was extremely unreliable (they DNF in almost 50% of the races) and it had a quite unusual nose shape that I´ve never seeen again in any other car, maybe because it was not a great idea.

 

If I remember right the car was pretty fast but it had a terrible gearbox that failed all the time.

 

Unfortunately, money can be spent in many ways. When little reaches the shop floor as it were, performance will suffer, but lifestyles won't.

 

Around that time they were gradually losing their tobacco sponsor.

But yeah it's F1, you can have a terrible car one year, a great car in the next, and a terrible car the year after that.

 

Mike Gascoyne And honda was not very good

 

Absolutely. After a great season debut in 1991, in 1992 Jordan only scored 1 point. In 1997 they were often in the top three, and in 1998 they almost DNF in all the races of the first half of the season. Later they saved the year winning a race (but just because half of the grid had crashed) and had a streak of good results to finish 4th in the WCC, almost beating Williams for 3rd.

Just surviving in F1 is incredibly difficult. Just look where McLaren and Ferrari are right now, and they´ve won EVERYTHING. What we could expect from Jordan?

 

Maybe Jordan wanted to cash in. That is a good reason to leave after the most
successful year. If you look at it as a business, it's like stocks, buy when cheap
and sell when expensive.

 

Then Jordan screwed it up, because he sold the team 5 years later when it was at its low point.

 

Well I recall 1999 season very well. It was the year no one wanted to win the title. The only reason Jordan was in the hunt was because Hakkenin kept making rookie mistakes. Remember him crying in the bushes @ monza lol plus Schumie accident and Ferrari forgetting how to make pitstops.

Plus that era 3rd place in the Constructors meant nothing. Look at 1998 and 2000 seasons and the 3rd placed team were way off the mark.

None of the other teams bothered to show up that season.

Jordan was always mid of the pack team, lack of funds stopped them from being anything more.

 

I think a team rather finishes 3rd than 9th. Big money difference (even from 3rd to 4th).

 

Truer words have never been spoken....

Cheers,
Ian

 

If I remember right, Eddie Jordan missed the boat when Honda decided to support BAR as its main team back then, instead of Jordan F1. Honda went on to buy BAR later on.

 

And today, its descendant is known as Sahara Force India.....

 

Which is not bad actually...

 

The green 7 up Jordan was one of the best looking modern era F1 cars built after the MP4 5

 

I have known a couple of elite athletes during the peak of their athletic powers. I have known a few other professionals who were among the best in their field. The level of work, commitment, dedication and sacrifice to get to the top of your profession is something that many "mere mortals" can never fathom.

And when I say this, I don't mean that these everyday people will never have the chance to experience the dedication and hard work necessary to be the greatest they can be. No, what I mean is that they will never even know the quantity of work and dedication required.

But once you have seen a glimpse of the massive work needed; once you have seen a slight shading of the commitment and sacrifice required, you will never make light of these guys again.

I have tremendous respect for back-markers, because they are still within fractions of the pinnacle. If a car/driver combo is 98% as good as the fastest cars, then that backmarker will be getting lapped. These are guys who could lap me while they are driving a riding mower and I am in a corvette--they are that good.

If you have, for example, an NBA player who misses a free throw at a critical point in the game, it is an uninformed opinion to slight that player. You must still respect the fact that he is in the highest fraction of the best in the world.

There is a backstory on Hakkinen's incident in the bushes. I know Mika and we talked about it--but only once. There was never really any need to speak of it ever again. We have also spoken many times of the wreck he had in Australia where he almost died. To remind himself of the fine line between life and death, between success and failure, he has pictures on the wall of his apartment where he is sitting up on the side of the hospital bed in Australia. He is wearing boxer shorts, a t-shirt, socks (to keep his feet warm) and he has a bandage on his neck where the trach was performed. Oh, and did I mention, he was about 110 pounds at the time--he was emaciated from the hospital confinement?

When a guy is so very close to clinching the world title, and there is a 'mistake' that happens in the blink of an eye, which could topple everything he had dedicated his life to, then emotion is natural.

So, you are free to write 'lol' after your description of Mika's behavior. But, I am also free to come on this board and give my two cents' worth.

 

^^^pwned.


btw, didn't Mika actually die in Australia? I seem to recall that he was revived trackside before being sent to the hospital (and that's where the trach was done-trackside)

 

Pretty much.... The late, great, Professor Sid called it 'his finest achievement at a race track'. However, and he discusses it in his excellent book, it wasn't a tracheotomy, but rather a cricothyrotomy. I'm no doc, but IIRC, he had to do it that way due to his other injuries.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I don't think his heart stopped, he was unconscious, and no one was sure whether he was breathing. He did have the trach there. (At least he never told me that his heart stopped.)

 

Actually, I did not know that. I thought it was a simple tracheotomy. Not really the kind of thing you talk about. You see this picture and you are stunned at it.