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Eddie Jordan lashes out at 'shameful' state of F1

Former Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan has launched a stinging attack on the state of the sport, describing the regulations governing the modern generation of F1 cars as 'shameful'.

Jordan was himself a racing driver in the 1970s, before heading into team management and eventually founding Jordan Grand Prix in 1991, a four-time winner in F1 with Damon Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Giancarlo Fisichella. 

Unfortunately, a lack of funds led to the team being sold in early 2005 to Midland Group. However, its original owner remained in the paddock, as a pundit for the BBC while also appearing on the broadcaster's popular Top Gear programme. 

At 76, Jordan is a co-host along with sidekick David Coulthard of the online podcast programme Formula for Success, in which he never holds back whenever he has something he feels is important to say about Formula 1. And right now, he's not at all happy with what he's seeing.

"As far as I'm concerned, shame on the regulations, shame on the organizers and shame on the people who have Formula 1 buried deeply in their soul," he raged on the latest episode of FFS.

He continued: "They've allowed this sport, in my opinion, to go to a step that may never come back from here, and I absolutely hate them for it."

The main focus of his rage is the modern day F1 cars which he describes as "tractors" because of safety features such as the halo, and the additional weight of current hybrid engines.

Jordan said he remembered the days when "the ground shuddered" as F1 cars fired up on the grid.

“It absolutely moved underneath you, such was the element of the power transmitted to the noise, to the sound, to the surface, it just absolutely went through your body," he explained.

“My God, when you were at a race, and let's say you were at Silverstone, and even if you were not inside the grid, and you were outside and you were on the grandstand, and the race started, and those V10s!

"It was sex on wheels, and that's what motor racing was for me and that's what I enjoyed so much," he continued. "Will we ever get back to the V10s? Probably not.

“We're too cowardly, what's going on at the moment, whether it's regulations or it's this that and the other," he smoked.

Jordan acknowledged that today's top drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris "are doing, unbelievable jobs with these cars. But they're tractors. They are tractors. They're 1000kgs, massively overweight.

Previously, Jordan had raised doubts about whether Norris had what it took to be a future F1 world champion, expressing the view that the Briton "hasn't got it."

And he's been even more scathing about Sergio Perez, saying that the Mexican driver doesn't have a chance of being retained by Red Bull beyond the end of the current season in three races time.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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