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Jordan about Schumacher's two million. "Nobody walked out of here for free"
- GPblog.com
Eddie Jordan owned a private team in the nineties that was one of the few that could compete against the big boys of McLaren and Ferrari. Still, it wasn't a popular place for everyone to drive. The breakup with Ralf Schumacher at the end of 1998 is an example of this.
The young Schumacher was dissatisfied with Jorden after a season and a half and wanted to force a departure to Williams. Especially when the team behind Damon Hill had to keep on riding at the Belgian Grand Prix and saw his first GP-statement pass him by.
Ralf would leave for Williams at the end of that year and go to Williams for a few successful years. He replaced Heinz-Hareld Frentzen, who had gone through a difficult period with Williams, but had his best season with Jordan in 1999. And Jordan himself was also left with this exchange, he tells to Peter Windsor on Youtube.
Jordan was able to take Schumacher back
"It ended well for all of us because Michael Schumacher paid me two million pounds to tear up the contract with his brother. I was happy to do that, of course." Windsor then reacts surprised at the amount of that amount.
"Of course that's true. No one walks out of Jordan's door without being paid for it," the Irishman laughs. "In this case it was Michael Schumacher and it was my way of getting back at him for years."
Jordan is referring to the 1991 season, when Schumacher made his team debut, only to leave for Benetton after one Grand Prix. Bernie Ecclestone would even have been involved in this shady deal at the time, because he would have preferred to have the German in a more competitive car straight away.