EDDIE JORDAN'S longest serving driver, Rubens Barrichello, has left the team alter four seasons to join Jackie Stewart's new outfit where he will partner Danish star Jan Magnesson.
Barrichello arrived at Jordan in 1993 with superb credentials, having won the British Formula 3 championship when just 18 and having been a contender for the F3,000 title the following year.
Jordan had just finished a dire season, scoring just one point with the Yamaha V12, when the young Brazilian signed, joining the first of no less than five team mates he had that year. While the scoreboard shows he scored only two points that year, he was simply outstanding in the torrential rain at Donington where he ran a brilliant second to Ayrton Senna until the Jordan Hartran dry.
The last two races of that season saw the arrival of Eddie Irvine in the team and for the first time ever Barrichello had a team mate his match and more.
Barrichello started off 1994 by finishing fourth in Brazil and scoring Jordan's first podium finish a fortnight later in Aida. He was running second in the drivers' championship as the team arrived at Imola for the San Marino Grand Prix. In retrospect, Barrichello was lucky to escape with his life after a horrendous 150 m.p.h. impact against a concrete wall on the Friday afternoon. By Sunday night Ratzenburg and his hero and countryman, Ayrton Senna, were dead.
Barrichello scored four more fourth place finishes and rounded off the season in a fine sixth place in the drivers' championship. No Jordan driver has ever had a better season, but the jewel of his talent had been damaged at Imola.
The arrival of Peugeot in 1995 heralded much but Barrichello found it difficult to cope with Irvine. Eleventh in the championship was aided by a lucky second place in Canada, but the final ignominy was Eddie Jordan getting Irvine into the Ferrari seat that Barrichello, of Italian extraction, longed for.
"It's all about momentum," said Irvine of his career. Barrichello needed to be out of Jordan by the end of last year but instead they entered a marriage of convenience for one further year. The divorce papers were being prepared, there was little communication but they lived under the one roof.
This year Barrichello scored 14 points finishing eighth in the championship but in the latter stages he lost all heart as the car simply wouldn't go around Martin end Brundle had the upper hand.
That Barrichello was championship material early on is without doubt and a fresh start is the best thing. He goes to Stewart's team where his good manners and pleasant demeanour will fit in well.
Eddie Jordan, in Thailand on holidays, was unavailable for comment but finding another driver as quick, reliable and easy to work with will be no easy task.
Gary Anderson, Jordan's designer had a close relationship with Barrichello and will be sorry to see him leave.
