Jordan acts as Newey's manager: 'My lips are sealed'

Eddie Jordan thinks it is clever that Red Bull Racing, as a 'private team', have managed to perform at such a high level in Formula 1 for such a long time. The fact that the team are now falling apart is, according to Jordan, perhaps somehow explainable. In the podcast Formula For Success, Adrian Newey's manager discusses the engineer's Red Bull departure, his attempt to snare Newey for his own team earlier himself and his client's future.

"It shows the measure of the man and the way Red Bull is run because for the size of it and there's still a family union, a family bond and that goes to the heart of it. The Austrians for example with when Dieter Mateschitz was there he created that atmosphere. He was a shy man but he was very influential in how the team was run," Jordan says.

Red Bull Racing are not a factory team and over the years they have used power sources from different engine suppliers. First, of course, Renault, then Honda and now Ford. "They still have different engines whether it be Honda which is what they have now and whatever they're going to in the future whatever it is we hear about Ford and so that will be their connection. So as a full blown manufacturer, what they've achieved in this time has been remarkable and I applaud people like Adrian like Christian and all of those people who are able to go the distance and stay the distance," said the 76-year-old Irishman. "That in itself is a mighty job you cannot expect people at this level of pressure to be able to stay unified together which the Red Bull people have."

Jordan wanted to sign Newey himself

In his illustrious career, Newey has never worked with Jordan on a Formula One team. However, the latter did once make an attempt with the Briton. "In the long time that I’ve known him [Newey] and I tried to sign him, and I remember going to his house and leaving a cheque for half a million in the hope that that might have been enough to entice him to come and be a designer at Jordan. That didn’t happen, he went to McLaren."

Newey's impact is huge, but he doesn't run with that. "Some would say he’s just brilliant when he has a pencil in his hand, and he becomes just a very normal, quiet, unassuming guy when he doesn’t have the pencil in his hand. And I think that is exactly him. So whatever his decision, we wish him well."

Jordan not only acts as Newey's manager; he is also a very good friend. "I’m joining you on the fence and I’m not going to say what is likely my advice, but you know, we do speak a lot. We do cycle an awful lot. I see him virtually every day for a two, three month period in the middle of our Christmas up here [in Europe] where it’s summertime in Cape Town. We’re next-door neighbours so to speak, and so there are certain things I know about and certain things he knows about me. But you know, my lips are sealed – you won’t get a word out of me!", he keeps Newey's future in limbo.