2001 Hungary Pre-Race: EJ on swapping Frentzen for Alesi

ITV-F1's interview Eddie Jordan and others about Jordan swapping Heinz Harald Frentzen for Prost's Jean Alesi.

[@ciaranwalsh96]

Eddie's ego had blown up by 2001, on the back of that iconic 1999 season - released his own energy drink, became a shareholder in Celtic and tried to get a share in Coventry City. Think he did this to show powerful and ruthless he could be, but it just made him look bad. He ended up taking his eye of the ball and ended up almost running the team into the ground before he sold it

[@alexpeak16]

I think that 2003 court case against Vodafone losing £150m in the process was the final nail in the coffin. He convinced himself he had a deal in place, Vodafone never did (and went on to sponsor Ferrari) and that accelerated the downfall of the team. Weird how it's now become the Aston Martin team after changing ownership/names five times and they'll be back with Honda power in a few years.

[@stanstansky5522]

That Jordan livery was stunning 😍

[@CarlosTheVillan1874]

Blatantly got rid of Frentzen to keep Honda happy

[@Blokesy]

He got rid of one of the most talented drivers of that time. Definitely would be one of choices as a driver. Still the best time in f1. Best looking and sounding f1 cars ever. Give those cars over the current ones, I don’t care how much faster these ones are.

[@supercooled]

"I don't care how faster current cars are" you know as I read that I was thinking to myself on what the drivers would think because ultimately they're the one driving these cares and we're merely spectating. To me 5 or 10 seconds faster per lap doesn't make a visual difference to me but is that the same for the driver? I've read some go on record as praising the new cars as the second coming of christ the way they corner and able to get on the power but then there are some who said it feels too sanitized and there's no soul. I'm not sure if that's a correct recollection but it sure feels appropriate when I relate to that in my own experience driving manual transmission vs an automatic. Never driven a DSG or dual clutch car but I imagine it's just the same thing as an automatic with the difference of flipping paddles. Technically will always be superior to rowing your own gears but there's just no fun factor in that no matter how fast or empassion those drivers would have you believe.

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

and now in 2024 he's trying to revise history by suggesting he got rid of HHF because Honda wanted Sato in the car

[@ryuhayabaker]

12 days later, Trulli signs with Renault. Classic EJ talking out his backside - love the man.

[@alexnowis2468]

Jordan's downfall started in 2000 with the horrendous reliability of that car, it didn't get better in 2001 & by that point, it was the dawn of the manufacturer's era.

[@jayveehaitch]

Later it would be revealed that EJ wanted to keep HHF, but Honda wanted Sato. A bit ironic that EJ lost Honda & Deutsche Post/DHL anyway at the end of 2002. The rest is history. Fun fact: EJ tried to get HHF back when Fisichella had that crash at Magny-Cours. He also tried to get him for 2003 & again for 2004. On all 3 occasions no luck.

[@albertorodriguezfernandez5956]

Like so many other Jordan fans, I will never ever understand this shitty move. Never. His explanations are hilarious. It seems there were many personal decisions on the back of this move. You get rid of HHF, and you get a similar driver and expect different results? If you have a deal with Honda, why not to promote Sato right away? Or if you can't do that, why not to keep Jean for 2002 alongside Sato? All very strange....very EJ

[@zaymclovin4178]

I still don’t know how and why EJ fired the driver who nearly won the title 1999 in JORDANS CAR

[@Saturn185]

mistakes during the 2001 season

[@Saturn185]

@Retro Lover i was talking about frentzen but i agree about alesi

[@INDIGOBLUE555]

@@Saturn185 I wonder why none of the top teams did ever contact Frentzen .Had he actually been highly rated he'd have got a call, but as far as I remember,no calls from top or even midfield teams.

[@Saturn185]

@@INDIGOBLUE555 he was chosen to replace Damon Hill at williams for 1997, also raced for Jordan as seen on this video and Sauber in two different occasions

[@INDIGOBLUE555]

@@Saturn185 Thx for the infos.

[@Pabig93]

Firing Frentzen was the start of Jordan's downfall...

[@FluppiLP]

Eddie Jordan said that he loved HHF and that he was the most successful driver that Jordan ever had. Later he said he wanted to get Honda engines by signing Takuma Sato but he never became the leading team with Honda engines, it was always BAR. So sacking Frentzen was a huge mistake from EJ and ultimately cost him his team. And in 2003 Eddie Jordan wanted to sign Frentzen again with HHF telling them to get lost. That possibly cost Jordan the sponsorship money from DHL and starting the downfall of Jordan in the end.

[@Npgp2]

Frentzen driving like a wet towel was the start of his own downfall. Eddie firing him was the second team boss in F1 who let him go quite harshly. Eddie never had any luck with his engine partners but should have seen Honda coming, they backed BAR more from the word go in 2000. But HHF would not have fared better in the 2002 car than Fisichella or Sato.

[@pauleastwood45]

Frentzen wouldn't have done better than Sato....... do you sniff glue? Ludicrous 'comment'

[@equestriangirly2296]

Pascal Herbig Actually they would have gone down anyway. Firing or keeping Frentzen wouldn't have made any difference. The team was always underfunded and had difficulties keeping their good engineers.

[@ciaronsmith4995]

Frentzen was so underrated. He had a poor start to 2001, but I am sure he would have matched Jarno in the end.

[@juhosten3463]

That swap never made any sense to me. There could be arguments that even on their peak Frentzen was better than alesi nevermind 2001. Frentzen wasnt exactly unbelievable during that season but no way did he deserve to get fired

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

I honestly think Monaco 2000 was the race that broke the camel's back. I think after that day the relationship between EJ and Frentzen never fully recovered

[@juhosten3463]

@@Matthew-bu7fg you're probably right but still. It's not like Alesi did anything better with the car

[@MrJoshuas5678]

Hill and frentzen are the best jordan drivers

[@jordanblair4077]

I don’t think Hill was a good Jordan driver. His 1999 performance was atrocious.

[@jangondas8097]

but was pretty good in 1998

[@JamesFlemingIreland]

Fisichella was great too. Barrichello and Irvine were also great

[@theempires5]

I have the F1 Magazine from 2001 so I know the story behind the scene. It is pure performance related as Trulli extract the maximum out of the car and Frentzen didn't. Plus Heinz Harald was critical of the team and the car and in return, the team blamed him for lack of results. The final straw came at British GP as Frentzen qualified fifth and finished seventh behind both Saubers which annoyed Jordan because they are battling the Swiss team for the fourth place in the Constructer's Championship.

[@dahuyvamvrot]

i read the magazine so i know the truth lol

[@knutschmag8090]

Eddie was stupi

[@xvita18]

2001 was the beginning of an end for EJ and Jordan GP. I seriously doubt sacking HHF in the middle of the season and replacing him with Alesi was demanded by Honda. He probably wanted to look tough and in the end made a fool of himself.

[@highlander5521]

one of the best looking car ever!

[@onkelmarvin8360]

Nothing to be ashamed of here. Jarno Trulli was a " Trulli " great qualifier, and it`s weird, that he only won a single race in his career, but at least it was Monaco.

[@samtorrens471]

Stubbornness and Ego are two horrible traits in a leader. This decision was the beginning of the mental downfall of EJ and a devestating blow to this HHF fan. Have not respected him since.

[@alc-d4163]

Trulli to McLaren? That's a rumour I've never heard before...

[@ssssssss6889]

There had been never an italian driver under Ron Dennis untill then or after. That would never going to happen! In an interview almost 15-20 years ago , Fisichella said that he offered his services to Ron Dennis , Ron have never been interessed.

[@alc-d4163]

@@ssssssss6889 Maybe Ron just had PTSD from having Andrea de Cesaris as a driver in '81...

[@ssssssss6889]

@@alc-d4163 De Cesaris , I believe , is the reason behind Dennis' reasonment. And have to say that Italian drivers are in general ( not all ) very fast over one lap but can't keep that speed over the race distance ( or season) , do more driving errors and attempt too much overoptimistic overtaking etc. Alesi ( sicilian origins) , Trulli , Fisichella were a bit like that at different extents. The only Italian driver that was very professional and methodical in a British team was to me Patrese at Willams , specially in 89,90 and 91. If all italian drivers were like Patrese in Williams , every team would like to have a Italian driver.

[@sabataskull9661]

​@@ssssssss6889 Alboreto was great in Footwork / Arrows in 1992. He was second in 1985 championship behind Prost.

[@sabataskull9661]

​@@ssssssss6889 Ronny was an overrated fool like 2007 showed.

[@Praise_God369]

Instead of swapping Heinz ,he should swap tyre manufacturer in the begining of the season .. michelin > bridgestone in 2001 Also lets not forget ,he hired Sato for Honda engines but honda went wheres more money ,an american team called BAR...so yeah ,these two things screwed the small very talented team

[@Yoshik379]

Yeah but on the tyre front, Honda wanted Bridgestone so they couldn't choose Michelin even if they wanted to.

[@frenchbanditi5971]

What might the 2002 season have been if Trulli stayed at Jordan? Would Fisi' or Sato have been his teammate? Who would've partnered Button at Renault....

[@sametozkan9175]

Trulli's team mate would be Fisichella his fellow country man in Jordan and Alonso would partner to Button in Renault 2002.

[@mysteriousguy7599]

should be Sato,remember Jordan was supplied by Honda,Honda want Sato as their driver but Sato is a rubbish

[@matteobeneduce256]

Back when small teams looked for a driver with talent instead of a check. Prost were in a difficult situation financially and they got Frentzen. Nowadays this would have been really difficult.

[@FormulaOneFan98]

Look at Ocon. If teams wanted talent they would be fighting over signing him. But because other drivers have more to offer in terms of sponsorship he was overlooked.

[@michaelskoomamacher5652]

>he doesn't know the era of Olivier Berretta and Ricardo Tosser

[@rideroundandstuff]

@@FormulaOneFan98lol tht comment didn’t age so well

[@FormulaOneFan98]

@@rideroundandstuff that comment was posted back in 2018 when Ocon was being replaced at Racing Point. He spent a year on the sidelines.

[@rideroundandstuff]

I know, that's what makes it funny now

[@MrJoshuas5678]

They shouldn't have dropped frentzen he was so much better than alesi they should have dropped trulli because he never won or had a podium with jordan frentzen won and had podium with jordan

[@flipflop4396]

lol Eddie had plans to win the championship...thats a good one

[@supercooled]

No more laughable than Lance Stroll saying he wants to win a championship. I also heard Checco say he wants to win a championship and to date he's only bested a 2nd or 3rd. I don't blame these guys for their optimism it's the name of the game even if in the back of their minds a win would be the most likely goal. 40 drivers at any one time on the grid and only about 4-6 are in true contention on being on the top step; more probable and realistically only 2 have any chance of winning enough in a season to sustain a viable championship run.

[@mbucd]

They did manage to win 2 races only 2 years previously and 1 the season before that so it wasn't that far fetched...but that was as good as it got.

[@Praise_God369]

Well i remember with two races to go in 99 ,frentzen was a clear title contender and was driving in front of the 2 mclaren and ferrari boys SO YEAH THE TEAM WAS A TITLE CONTENDER. To bad the car stopped in that crucial moment . So dont lol cuz you make a clown out of from yourself,showing you dont knoe nothing about true f1...that was f1 indeed,this wut we got nowdays is circus clowns. A JOKE

[@flipflop4396]

@@Praise_God369 Jordan was 3rd best car, but by no means title contender. Frentzen got 3rd yes, but mostly thanks to Mclaren and Ferrari hussle and reliabiliy issues, he won 2 races in which both Mclaren and Ferrari had issues. Yes he finished in front of Schumacher who wasnt driving half of season due to leg injury and Coulthard who had twice more DNFs than Frentzen.

[@tonyquigley6543]

Jean Alesi, the PERFECT example of the Mandela effect? All those years i watched F1 during the Shumacher Reign, i saw Jean alesi battloing away in there, TOTALLY though "They're hiring him because he's a previous top F1 driver, i even thinkn hes a multiple time world champion years and years ago in the Alesi Prost era". But NOPE. He LITERALLY has won ONE single Race in his career... ONE. WTF? am i the only person who thought he was like prost and alesi etc? an old amazing F1 driver? wtf. if not, where the hell did he come from, and why the f8ck was his face and name SOOOo .... F1 Champion ish?

[@emankcin1701]

Right teams in the wrong time.

[@aggerktm]

he was a great driver indeed, but he was also ridiculously unlucky throughout his whole career. he only won 1 race and hes still one of the most remembered and beloved drivers, even by Ferrari fans too, that says a lot

[@luisvilleda4616]

I agree with both answers, he was damn unlucky by choosing the runner up team of 1990 when it went in a slump. Then choose the WC team of 1995 when some team key personnel were going in the opposite direction. Luck? Man o man, damn reliability of Ferrari... then a backmarker crashes just in front of you... in MONACO of all places with no room to evade? Damn luck. Damn luck indeed.

[@fordernPL]

Winning races won't tell you the whole story - to be honest, Alesi never had a serious opportunity to compete for the title, and never had a car capable of winning multiple times. The other story is that when he was paired, for example, with Berger - Jean was always throwing away his chances (apart from Canadian GP 1995, of course), and Berger managed to achieve some great success (winning in 1994, or 1997). Alesi was overrated, and never should be considered in the same category even as Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, not to mention better drivers. Maybe Mark Webber is an accurate omparison...

[@danieldangelo7937]

Alesi was a great unlucky driver he won in Montreal in 1995 I fortunate to witness it live. The other race at Monza 10 laps to go and the left rear wheel bearing goes, could've been his second win. He was so exhausted and sad I cried for him.

[@David-mr3gw]

im sorry but Alesi was really over rated.

[@bajo5e470]

So JD fired Frentzen who had more wins than Alesi and who actually challenged for the title up to 2 races to go in 1999 for this looser ? Jean is probably the most overrated driver of his career, he never did nothing impressive

[@luisvilleda4616]

If you are not happy with your team and your team is not happy with you, it doesn't matter if you are a 12 time WC. That's why Frentzen was sacked.

[@Adam-dm7lc]

Finally someone said it!

[@amkca34]

18 podiums for Frentzen, 32 for Alesi. Alesi is not a brillant driver for sure, but Frentzen ? Come on ! Same shit.

[@jamiecloughgaming25387]

@@amkca34 Alesi never had a season as good as Frentzens 1999 season though, so you can see where he's coming from.

[@julianalobaogarcia5347]

After he adopted a diet based on raw fish, low in calories, it affected his IQ and his judgment, leading him to make the wrong decisions, he could have run at least another 3 seasons ...

[@MeteCanKarahasan]

Raw fish = low folate. Good luck taking any decisions in that mental state.

[@Mogzilla86]

eddie jordan was a terrible team boss

[@Praise_God369]

He was rather a good one but this decizion was shit . Something really upset the boss to make a moove like this

[@jamiecloughgaming25387]

@@Praise_God369 But at that time Trulli was out performing Frentzen, so replacing him was a logical decision to make in F1 regardless of past success, your only as good as your recent results, plus team and driver were no longer getting along by this point 1999 was a distant memory.

[@briancollins7191]

Joseph fritzel @ 1:52 back in his Prost days

[@ciaranwalsh96]

That's John Boy Walton, worked at several teams like Prost, Jordan and Minardi before he sadly died of a heart attack in 2004 of a heart attack at the age of 47. He was actually Louise Goodman's (who narrates that piece) partner.