What if Honda had chosen Jordan instead of BAR

[davyboy]

As good old Murray used to say, F1 is IF spelt backwards. But here's an IF I've been thinking about for some time now. I wonder what what the state of the grid would be like today if Honda had put their eggs in the Jordan basket rather than the BAR one. Back in the late 1990s, Jordan were Honda's leading team, had grabbed a few race wins and even an outside chance at the championship itself. At that time, BAR was still mired in 'start-up' problems which evolved into political issues and have since surfed on to yet more problems.

EJ certainly had a way of dealing with the Japanese that nobody at BAR had back then. He also had a fabulous group of people around him all of whom enjoyed and respected the team. Jordan also managed to galvanize a great team fan base... something BAR really struggled to do. Much of this evaporated when Honda left, as expected.

If Honda had stayed with Jordan, would they have emerged as a McLaren/Renault/Ferrari today ? Would EJ still be in F1 ? Would Honda have bagged a championship at this stage ? If not, I certainly think that they would have been successful at winning more races, something 6 years down the line they've yet to break their duck with at BAR.