Tiago Monteiro on Eddie Jordan: “He ran his business like a family”

What was your relationship with Eddie Jordan? 

It was Eddie who found me and sealed my contract for the 2005 season. But he was already on the verge of leaving his team, and he had told me so. I signed in his office; two or three months later, he called me and said: "Okay, I'll leave you to it, you sort it out yourself. Good luck!" But jokingly, it was really typical of Eddie. He still ran his business like a family. It was still the old-fashioned, paternalistic way of managing things. He was a visionary. He really had an idea of ​​what he wanted to achieve. He went through some very difficult times in his career, but he always managed to get through them. When he had the opportunity of a lifetime to make a good exit from the business, he went for it. I think he was right.

How did the US GP go? 

We just did our job. We had to be the best of the others behind the Ferrari. And I had the opportunity to be able to bring this last podium back to Jordan, after the withdrawal of all the F1 fitted with Michelin tires on the formation lap. We absolutely had to be third! I understand that the public wasn't happy (only six single-seaters took part in the GP instead of the usual twenty, and this was due to faulty tires. Editor's note), etc., but we didn't steal anything from anyone. When you have 450 people working for you at the factory who know that it's the opportunity of a lifetime to have a podium, I couldn't act like a blasé guy. On the contrary, I was euphoric. I had my mechanics crying at the bottom of the podium. I celebrated with them and Eddie congratulated me on the phone.

ALSO READ > When Tiago Monteiro gave Jordan his last podium