Eddie Jordan Terms Michael Schumacher’s Maiden F1 Outing “A Wonder of the World”

Michael Schumacher has done more than enough to leave a legion of fans touting his name as the greatest of all time. The 7-time World Champion has dropped a lot of jaws and raised a lot of eyebrows over the course of his career, and Eddie Jordan was one of them.

Jordan was the owner of the F1 team, Jordan Grand Prix. His team was the route Schumacher took to make his F1 debut and thereafter build a career that saw unprecedented success.

Schumacher had stepped in as a replacement for Bertrand Gachot after the Belgian was sent to prison for assaulting a taxi driver. But right from day one, Schumacher showed Jordan that he had the talent to be a future World Champion.

Reflecting on Schumacher’s first test with his team, Jordan spoke about what caught his eye and why Michael endeared himself to the crew straight away. He said (translated by Google), “It was like a wonder of the world.

“I had only ever seen such a presence of a young guy, such talent, such incredible speed, such self-confidence with Ayrton Senna. Michael drove incredible times straight away with an old John Watson Jumpsuit. My mechanics and technicians loved it.”

Eddie Jordan talks about the outstanding debut weekend of Michael Schumacher

Following his impressive first test with the team, Eddie said that Schumacher didn’t stop making jaws drop there. He continued to do the same throughout his maiden F1 weekend in Belgium.

“He had never driven in Spa before. His teammate de Cesaris was desperate after the first training session. Michael went straight to the top 10 (eleventh in practice one, fifth in practice two). Took de Cesaris almost a second.

“He (de Cesaris) studied Michael’s data and couldn’t explain where he was getting the speed from. In qualifying, Michael put my car in seventh place. For our young team, that was like pole position.

“Unfortunately, his race only lasted about 500 meters. Then the clutch was burnt. But it was my fault. I think I was saving in the wrong place back then.”

Hearing Jordan’s reviews of a young Schumacher, it really is no surprise what the German went on to achieve in his remarkable career.

After just one race with Jordan, Schumacher moved to Benetton for the remainder of the season. Where he won 2 championships before Ferrari came calling. And the rest is history.