“People Don’t Remember That Senna Started With Me”: Eddie Jordan Opens up on Ayrton Senna

Recently, former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan appeared in the Off The Ball podcast. There, he spoke about the perennial debate for the status of Greatest Of All-Time. However, he dismissed the likes of Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher and named Alain Prost.

The founder and owner of the now-defunct Jordan Grand Prix, laid out his opinions on the greatest driver of all-time debate. He even gave a few insights into working with the likes of Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. Interestingly, he was one of the first people to witness the pure raw talent of Senna in his pre-F1 days.

He said, “I gave up driving in 1982 and took on a young driver and brought him to Macau, gave him his first ever drive in Formula 3, and then went to Macau with another team, the Marlboro team, and we won there.”

“He changed his name, from there on in he drove in Formula 1 and his name was Ayrton Senna. People don’t often remember that Senna started with me, just like Damon Hill did, another world champion, and then Michael [Schumacher].”

What else did Jordan say about Ayrton Senna?

Jordan believes that Schumacher possessed ‘unbelievable natural talent’, close to Senna’s levels. However, people placed Ayrton Senna on a pedestal, because they wanted to believe he was the best.

Moving to the modern era of Formula One, Jordan acknowledged 6-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The British driver leads the race to be included in that list, with his sixth world championship moving him closer to Schumacher in the all-time list.

“That’s probably going to change very shortly because I do feel that Lewis Hamilton has achieved all of those things. Okay, in a different era where there is a monopoly – the car is quite simply staggering, but nevertheless he has maximised it.

“I would say by the next couple of months, if there is a World Championship this year, we’ll see yet another champion achieving seven world titles. I think Lewis Hamilton has every chance to be the greatest driver of all time.”

Sadly, Hamilton may have to wait for another year to catch Michael Schumacher. This is because the coronavirus pandemic has almost completely written off the 2020 season.