Temper tantrums, bossiness, dismissal by fax, driver-swopping and lawsuits … Eddie Jordan finally speaks his mind on the controversial sacking of Heinz-Harald Frentzen earlier this year.
Temper tantrums, bossiness, dismissal by fax, driver-swopping and lawsuits … Eddie Jordan on Wednesday finally spoke his mind on the controversial sacking of Heinz-Harald Frentzen earlier this year.
Despite the fact that the 2001 season is almost at an end, there has still been no official explanation for the sacking of Frentzen from the Jordan team just days prior to the German Grand Prix in July. Both driver and Jordan boss have kept very quiet over the reason behind the shock move, partly because of a multi-million rand lawsuit the German has lodged against his former employer.
When the furore broke, Frentzen revealed that Jordan had actually fired him by fax for reasons he wasn’t aware of at the time, and he intended to take the matter to court. Only weeks prior to the sacking, it was officially announced that Heinz would remain with the outfit until the end of the 2002 season, dispelling rumours that he might have been on his way to the newly-formed Toyota team next year.
Since then, Frentzen has lodged a claim with the courts for compensation over his dismissal, while Jordan has remained silent, apart from stating that he intended to fight the German’s claim. However, the team boss has now spoken briefly over the incident, stating that although people thought he was mad to remove Frentzen the way he did, he believes it was the best thing to do for the overall future of the team.
"Heinz did not share my vision for the future,” he explained. “He is a lovely, lovely guy. But at times it seemed he wanted to not only drive the car, but design it as well. It caused problems with the engineers and was not good for the team.”
There have been various rumours in the F1 paddock about Frentzen’s tempestuous and impatient behaviour during his tenure at Jordan. Some sources say that the German on occasions ignored the advice of his engineers and altered the setup of his car by himself, causing a lot of unhappiness in the team. When Frentzen’s car was off the pace, he would reportedly blame the team for not listening to him. The engineers, in turn, would accuse Frentzen of undermining their work.
“There is no doubt we have to re-structure Jordan Grand Prix. Williams went through a bad time for two or three years. Then they reorganised and are now back at the top of the sport. We have to do the same and I am in the middle of it now. People thought I was mad sacking Frentzen. But I know what I am doing,” Jordan added.
