It was driven by 1996 World Champion Damon Hill, who had won the team's first Grand Prix in Belgium the previous season, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was swapped with Williams in favour of Ralf Schumacher.

[3] It proved to be Jordan's most successful car in its fifteen-year history, scoring two wins, a pole position and third place in the Constructors' Championship.

Comprehensively out-performed throughout the season by Frentzen, he decided to retire during the course of the year and could only score seven points towards the team's eventual tally of 61.

[5] The car used a mid-mounted, naturally aspirated Mugen-Honda MF-301HD 3.0 L V10 engine, Elf fuel and oil, Penske shock absorbers, Brembo carbon disc brakes, Bridgestone tyres and their own six-speed sequential semi-automatic gearbox.

Jordan used Benson & Hedges logos, except at the French, British and Belgian Grands Prix, where they were replaced with "Buzzin' Hornets", tying in with the bee design at the front of the liveries.

Hill made a brilliant start, but a collision with Jarno Trulli's Prost ended his race at turn 3.

As the leading McLarens of David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen dropped out with technical problems, Frentzen was left in 2nd behind Ferrari's Eddie Irvine.

Frentzen, meanwhile, was passed by Jean Alesi in the Sauber on lap 19 but took his 6th place back when the Frenchman retired with a gearbox failure.

This second consecutive podium left Frentzen and Jordan in 2nd place in both championships, behind Irvine and Ferrari and equal with Häkkinen and McLaren.

Retirements on lap 41 of Villeneuve (gearbox) and Diniz (transmission) allowed him to move up to 8th, and he ran as high as 5th before his second stop put him back in 8th.

However, the Jordan's brakes failed with four laps to go and it was a heavy brush with the barrier which ended the German's promising race.

Wet qualifying for the French Grand Prix left a very odd grid, with Barrichello on pole, Frentzen 5th and Hill down in 18th.

Hill, meanwhile, was having an exciting time, locked in a battle with Irvine, he was up to 15th having gained places after the retirements of Herbert, Diniz and Coulthard.

Track conditions were becoming treacherous by the time Häkkinen passed Alesi four laps later and all the front runners, led by Barrichello, jumped into the pits for wet tyres.

However, both the Finn and Barrichello had to pit again and dropped to 2nd and 3rd respectively, leaving Frentzen clear to take his and Jordan's second career victory.

There was a glorious three lap period during the second round of pitstops when the Jordans were running 1st and 2nd, but with normal order resumed they were back to 4th and 5th.

Coulthard spun his teammate Häkkinen at turn 2, gifting both Jordans a place, but Frentzen lost out to Barrichello and Hill to Fisichella, Trulli and Ricardo Zonta's BAR, leaving them 4th and 13th.

Meanwhile, Hill was gaining places due to a pass on Zonta, the misfortune of Villeneuve (retiring with a transmission failure) and being out of synch with the pitstops.

This left the Jordans 4th and 9th, and Hill gained another place with three laps to go when Fisichella also suffered an engine failure, but it was too late for the Englishman to add to his measly points tally.

Frentzen was passed by Barrichello going into the stadium section on lap 3, but Hill was gaining a place at the same time due to Fisichella's suspension problems.

Despite Hill harrying Zanardi, the Englishman was unable to find a way past the Williams man on one of his favourite circuits.

Another podium finish for Heinz-Harald Frentzen wasn't enough to prevent him from dropping back to 4th in the world championship, behind race winner David Coulthard.

Hill was knocked down a further place by an overtake from Alesi with 4 laps to go, but despite pressure right to the end from Ralf Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was able to take his and Jordan's second win of the year.

This allowed him to move back to 3rd in the championship, but Hill was overtaken by Mika Salo, who had finished third in the race, and dropped to 10th.

Hill was back in 7th, but failed to make the end of the first lap after being caught up in Pedro Diniz's huge accident along with Alexander Wurz.

Frentzen was still only 12 points off Mika Häkkinen, the championship leader, so going into the penultimate round, the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix, there was still a theoretical chance of him becoming world champion.

The retirements of Ralf Schumacher (accident) and David Coulthard (fuel pressure) allowed Frentzen to move up to 9th, but it was still looking bad for the championship.

Both drivers dropped two places on the opening lap, with Irvine and Panis passing Frentzen and Hill falling victim to Barrichello and Wurz.

Hill gained a place when Trulli retired with an engine failure, but his illustrious career ended in a disappointing fashion when he pulled into the pits complaining of fatigue.

The German gained another position when David Coulthard had a dramatic spin in his McLaren and was forced to return to the pits.