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Jordan recalls heated row with Michael Schumacher over brother Ralf

The 1998 Belgian Grand Prix was a memorable one for Eddie Jordan; not only did it mark his team's first win in F1 but he also had a fierce disagreement with his former driver Michael Schumacher.

Eddie Jordan has been reminiscing about a heated row between himself and Michael Schumacher following the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix. Damon Hill won the eventful Grand Prix for Jordan, marking the team's first victory in Formula 1, whilst teammate Ralf Schumacher was second. Michael Schumacher had been leading the heavily rain-affected race from Hill with a sizeable gap but, on Lap 24, collided with the McLaren of David Coulthard whilst lapping him. Schumacher was furious following the incident and was seen storming down to Coulthard's garage to confront him. Meanwhile, in the latter stages of race, Ralf Schumacher looked to be catching Hill in the lead, but team orders were issued to maintain the 1-2 finishing order. Jordan says that Michael – who started his Formula 1 career with Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix – was unhappy about the whole scenario when he approached him after the race. "It was a double whammy for me, because Michael Schumacher wanted to fight with everybody," Jordan told the F1 Nation podcast. "He started off by fighting with DC, which was perfect and left us alone. And then he came to me [after the race] and I thought he was going to put his arms around me and say, 'Look, I'm so happy for you, you've won first and second, it's remarkable when we started here all those seven or eight years previously'. "But no, that's not Michael. Michael wanted to shout and roar at me. He was swearing at me, and I can swear with the best of people so I started pushing him. He pushed me and he was saying, 'That's it, you're never going to have my brother next year'. "I said, 'It's very simple, Michael. Have a look at the contract, you're very good at looking at contracts. There's a buyout clause, it's two million quid, pay me the two million and you can take him wherever you like'. And that's what he did." Ralf went on to race for the Williams team from 1999 onwards. Despite this disagreement with Michael, Jordan has fond memories of when the seven-time World Champion raced for him in his debut F1 race weekend back in 1991. "When he qualified seventh or whatever it was at the first time and first year of a rookie team, that was quite sensational," Jordan remembered.

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