Jordan hired Italian veteran Andrea de Cesaris and Belgian Bertrand Gachot to race his first cars, which were powered by Ford.

De Cesaris ran second for much of the Belgian Grand Prix, and was actually gaining on leader Ayrton Senna until the car failed in the closing laps.

Gachot was sent to prison mid-season for attacking a taxi driver, and was replaced for the Belgian Grand Prix by Michael Schumacher.

The team received $150,000 from Mercedes-Benz in return for giving their young German sportscar star experience of Grand Prix racing.

[6] Despite Jordan's agreement in principle with Mercedes to retain Schumacher for the remainder of the season, the German driver signed to Benetton-Ford for the following race.

Jordan applied for an injunction in the UK courts to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton, but lost the case as they had not yet signed a contract.

With Maurício Gugelmin and Stefano Modena driving, the team struggled badly and failed to score a point until the final race of the season.

Signs of stability were beginning to show near the end of the season when Barrichello was joined by Eddie Irvine, a former Jordan driver in F3000.

Irvine finished sixth and secured a point on his debut Formula One race at Suzuka, memorably unlapping himself against McLaren's Ayrton Senna, in order to overtake Damon Hill.

Barrichello earned the team their first top three finish in Japan at the Pacific Grand Prix, but was nearly killed during the following race in San Marino in a frightening qualifying crash.

Barrichello earned Jordan's first pole position after a gamble during a wet qualifying session in Belgium, and finished 6th in the Drivers' Championship with 19 points.

When Irvine left in 1996 to become Michael Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari, Jordan replaced him with veteran Martin Brundle, the ex-Le Mans winner and World Sportscar Champion.

Barrichello left for the newly formed Stewart Grand Prix, whilst Brundle became a Formula One commentator for ITV.

Jordan replaced them with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who had raced for Minardi the previous year, and young Ralf Schumacher, Michael's brother.

At Hockenheim, Fisichella had led the race, but lost out to Gerhard Berger before retiring when a puncture holed his car's radiator.

In 1998, the team made its biggest signing as former World Champion Damon Hill, a graduate of Jordan's F3000 programme, replaced Fisichella.

Hill's last lap, last-corner move on Heinz-Harald Frentzen at Suzuka enabled him to finish the race in fourth and also earned Jordan fourth in the Constructors' Championship for 1998 (this was tempered by speculation that Frentzen had "gifted" the place to Hill, the German having confirmed a move to Jordan for 1999, after a tumultuous career with Williams).

For a short while Frentzen had entertained thoughts of a world title, but poor luck and greater speed from McLaren and Ferrari ended his hopes.

The team had been on course for major points at Monaco, but poor luck intervened: Trulli was ahead of eventual winner David Coulthard until his gearbox failed, while Frentzen running in second place hit the wall at Sainte Devote with only eight laps to go.

Both drivers returned to start 2001 and Jordan switched to works Honda engines which were already being supplied to rival team BAR after Mugen left the sport at the end of 2000.

Frentzen was replaced by test driver Ricardo Zonta at the German Grand Prix, but from thereafter Jean Alesi, in the final stages of his Formula One career, took the seat.

Jordan re-organised in 2002, with Fisichella returning and Takuma Sato joining the team, thanks in no small part to Honda's influence.

Ex-F3000 champion Heidfeld showed promise, but could not achieve many good results due to the car's initial pace being poor.

Glock managed to score two points on his debut, finishing just ahead of Heidfeld, although these had been earned after the two Toyota and Williams cars had been disqualified for brake duct irregularities.

A final podium came in the highly controversial race at Indianapolis, with Monteiro leading home a Jordan 3–4 after most rivals did not start.

Jordan Grand Prix was notable for providing the debut to a number of drivers who subsequently enjoyed considerable F1 and wider motor-racing careers.

Notably successful drivers who began their F1 careers with Jordan include multiple World Champion Michael Schumacher (1991), Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Champion Alex Zanardi (1991), F1 race winners Rubens Barrichello (1993), Eddie Irvine (1993), and Ralf Schumacher (1997), and Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato (2002).

Most notably, Heinz-Harald Frentzen won two races to challenge for the 1999 World Championship, something he had failed to do for the much more competitive Williams team in 1997.

Based on the EK4 VTi-S hatchback model, the cars were painted Sunlight Yellow and featured yellow-and-black leather interior, Jordan decals on the sides and rear of the car as well as stitched into the seats and floor carpets, and body kit partially based on the Japanese Type-R model.