Eddie Jordan is not one to keep his tongue in his pocket: when something bothers him, he says it loud and clear! The former team leader, founder and president of the eponymous Jordan Grand Prix team from 1991 to 2005, did not mince his words regarding current Formula 1 and its hybrid single-seaters. The least we can say is that the Irishman is not the biggest fan of the 2024 version of F1…
In the Formula For Success podcast that he co-hosts with David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan – now aged 76 – strongly criticized the lack of appeal of current single-seaters. Equipped with a V6 turbo hybrid engine since 2014, the Formula 1 cars have gained more than 200 kilograms in twenty years (600 kg in 2004, 798 kg in 2024), in particular because of the weight of the battery, the different electric motors but also new safety features like the halo. The Irishman regrets the days of noisy naturally aspirated V10s and single-seaters that are lighter and more agile than today in a long diatribe against current F1 cars.
F1s with V10 engines, “sex on wheels” for Jordan
“When you went to a race – say at Silverstone, even if you weren't on the grid and you were in the stands – and the race started, with those V10s, I can promise you the ground was shaking. It was absolutely moving under your feet, with such power transmitted by the noise, by the sound, by the surface, that it went through your body. It was sex on wheels. That’s what racing was to me, and that’s what I loved so much. Today we are too cowardly. Will we ever go back to V10s? Probably not”said the former Irish leader in his podcast.
“The second thing, which ties into this and makes such a difference… These cars – and let’s be fair to Lewis [Hamilton]Max [Verstappen] and Lando [Norris] which incredible work with such single-seaters – but they are tractors! They weigh a ton (around 900 kg with a full tank of fuel, Editor's note), they are enormously overweight. They are ridiculous, adds Eddie Jordan. Shame on the regulations! Shame on the organizers! And shame on the people who have Formula 1 buried deep in their souls because they have let this sport, in my opinion, take a step from which it may never return, and I absolutely hate them for that. (…) The cars are too heavy, not noisy enough, not sexy enough, that’s my opinion. »
The problem of the weight of current F1 cars has already been raised for many years and the FIA is working to try to reduce the figure on the scale. With the 2026 regulations, the objective is to reduce the weight of single-seaters by 30 kilograms, with a weight of 768 kg targeted by the authorities despite a larger electric engine.
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