HONDA The Power of Dreams

In 2001, the second year of its return to F1, Honda began supplying engines not only to its partner British American Racing (BAR), but also to Jordan.

Jordan, a constructor team founded by Irish-born Eddie Jordan, had been competing in F1 since 1991. It had been powered by Mugen Honda engines since 1998, and claimed its first win with Mugen Honda in Round 13, Belgium that year, and went on to win two rounds in 1999. In 2000, with Honda’s return to F1, Mugen Honda withdrew from F1, leading Jordan asked Honda to supply their engines. Honda supplied Jordan with 3L V10 engines which already had a winning record with Mugen Honda.

Since Honda was a factory team codeveloping the chassis with BAR, Jordan was positioned as a customer, but Honda nonetheless supplied the same RA001E engine as BAR’s. Jordan was racing with factory spec Honda engines. In addition, the sequential transmission was improved from the previous year’s 6-speed to a 7-speed.

However, the 2000 and 2001 seasons were a period of turmoil for Jordan as the effects of the departure of Gary Anderson, who had headed the technical department since the team’s inception, began to gradually surface. The 2001 car, the EJ11, was prepared under the direction of Mike Gascoyne, who had succeeded Anderson as technical director since 1998, and together with chief designer Mark Smith, had started development of the car as soon as the 2000 season began, but Gascoyne and Smith left the team in May, taking responsibility for the poor performance that had continued since the season-opener. The development of the car was taken over by Tim Holloway and the rest of the remaining staff.

The EJ11 completed by Holloway and his team had a uniquely designed front wing. This was to comply with a regulation change that required the ground clearance of the front wing more than 500mm outside the car’s center to be raised by 50mm. Furthermore, the stays suspending the front wings were designed in a unique horn shape with a wide opening. The nose, to which the stays were attached, was raised even higher, and the bees that had been painted on both sides until the previous year disappeared, replaced by a shark’s mouth.

The EJ11 was driven by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli, as in the previous year. They had set good times in the pre-season tests, and in the season-opener, Frentzen finished in fifth place. The team had a good start to the season, finishing within the points for the first five rounds. However, the team was in turmoil. In pre-season February, Egbal Hamidi joined the team from Arrows and took over as technical director, but soon after, a large number of engineers left the team. From the mid-season races, reliability problems continued and races were unfinished, just as the previous year.

Just before Round 12, Germany, the team fired Frentzen, who was replaced by test driver Ricardo Zonta, who had substituted injured Frentzen in Round 8, Canada. However, Zonta did not last long. After the summer break, the team brought in Jean Alesi from Round 13, Hungary, after he had left the Prost team. It was a year in which the team had more battles off the track than on.

Nevertheless, Jordan’s development efforts continued unabated by introducing the B-spec EJ11B from the Hungarian GP. The EJ11B had a completely new aerodynamic package, including changes to the side pontoons. With two rounds remaining, Trulli finished fourth in the U.S. GP. With the three points he gained, Jordan overtook BAR in the constructors’ standings, and finished the season in fifth place.