10 January 2024 , 08:59
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Eddie Jordan has revealed he went "absolutely ballistic" at Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella, branding the drivers "total w******" after they crashed into each other at the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix.
Schumacher and Fisichella collided as they went into the first corner, with the crash also taking out Ralf's brother Michael and Minardi driver Ukyo Katayama. The four drivers were all forced to retire from the race and Jordan was not happy with his drivers.
Reflecting on the race in an appearance on the Formula For Success podcasts he hosts alongside David Coulthard, Jordan said: "The '97 car was particularly strong and I get the impression that when Giancarlo was in second place, he wasn't prepared to give it up for Ralf because he was much quicker.
"And he came to the hairpin and they ran into each other. I went absolutely ballistic. Even the most liberal country in the world would have censored what I said, I was so vicious with them. I told them that they were two total w******.
"Said that they didn't deserve to be in the car and I was going sack them when I got them back. I did calm down but I never saw the funny side of that, because in my opinion, they cost us. We had never won a grand prix at that stage.
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"The previous year, we had the pole position with Ralf and with Rubens [Barrichello] in Spa and we could feel that things were returning slightly in our favour. Benson & Hedges came on board and we had a decent chance of getting money from the Deutsche Post and various other things.
"I felt really good about the team and we thought we had some brilliant young engineers and so for them to crash lights out was just sinful. I felt it was a very low regard for the team in itself."
The crash all but ended Michael's hopes of winning the world championship that year after rival Jacques Villeneuve went on to win the race, although he was later stripped of his second place finish after a crash with Villeneuve in the final grand prix of the season in Spain.
The first-corner crash took out Giancarlo Fisichella, Ukyo Katayama and Ralf and Michael Schumacher (Getty Images)And while Ralf admitted at the time that his brother was "bitter" about the crash, he did not hold any grudges. He said: "It's doubly bitter for him but he doesn't blame me, and why should he?"
"There's no reason to do so [apologise]. There were three of us involved in that accident - Giancarlo Fisichella, Michael and me. It was just one of those things. I didn't have a chance. Fisichella nudged my rear wheel and I went over Michael.
"If everybody had been paying attention nothing would have happened. What should I do, brake simply because I'm Michael's brother? I have to drive my own race. I'm not the third Ferrari driver."