Jordan to be sold again

Minardus

From GrandPrix.com:

From Russia with dosh?
The word on the street in Monaco is that Jordan F1 owner Alex Shnaider is trying to get rid of the team, after just a few months of ownership. It seems that Shnaider is not very keen on pouring large sums of money into the team and we hear that he is in the process of trying to sell the operation to another Russian businessman. The big question being asked in the paddock at Monaco was which of the Russian new rich will be taking up the burden of running the team which was founded by Eddie Jordan.

On another F1 messageboard I read a rumor that Eddie Irvine wants to buy Jordan GP with the help of a Russian backer !!!!:o

Minardi4eva

That would make more sense than the rumour of Irvine buying Minardi

MinardiP1

Hooray! More instability for Jordan - maybe the cost of the EJ15B has made Schnaider anxious about putting money into the AS01. :hehe:

All we need is for Gazprom to buy them, and have a few cheques bounce. :angel:

vuurmuur

Is grandprix.com dutch? ;) We are known for making up stories like these. :hehe:

Minardus

GP.com is my favourite F1 news site. Very respected.
This is the latest news from them (they must have read my post here):

Irvine to buy Jordan?
Eddie Irvine, Japanese GP 2002© The Cahier Archive

The word in the paddock in Monte Carlo is that the Jordan team could end up being bought by a consortium led by former Jordan driver Eddie Irvine. The 39-year-old Irishman has been out of Formula 1 since he left Jaguar at the end of a lucrative three-year contract in 2002. Since then he has dabbled in real estate in Florida and a number of other investments and has continued to have an F1 profile with plenty of his usual opinions about the sport. He is certainly a character and it is easy to see why the sport might look to him to add some colour in a new generation of managers.

But Irvine has probably learned enough about the sport not to invest his own money and thus one must look to see who would be behind the purchase of the team. We have heard that there is more Russian money available for such a deal and that Irvine's Irish ways would maintain the character of the business which Eddie Jordan established. At the same time there would probably have to be some high-profile Russian involvement, if only to maintain national pride and keep up interest in F1 in a growing market.

Irvine knows how Formula 1 teams run and probably know the right people to do the job, leaving him to front the operation. His links with the team go back to 1990 when he drove for Jordan in Formula 3000. He won one race and finished third in the championship but while Jordan went on to F1, Irvine ended up in Japan and it was not until the end of 1993 that he got a chance when Jordan took him on for the last two races of the season. He stayed with the team in 1994 and the team finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship. At the end of 1995 he was lured away to Ferrari and stayed there as Michael Schumacher's number two until the end of 1999. That year he had his shot at the World Championship after Michael broke his leg but Irvine failed to deliver the goods at the showdown in Japan.

[Edited on 19/5/2005 by Minardus]

silverghost

This is on AutosportAtlas too, and they don't normally mess about. Less interesting than the Irvine bit is the stuff about how the new owners only handed over the cash for the windtunnel to EJ after he threw them out and changed the locks, and were subject to a winding up order from their paint subcontractors. They bought them off, but the word is that more suppliers are queueing up to take them to court.