Eddie Jordan fought to the end, according to some of his closest Formula 1 confidants.

The legendary former team owner, who founded the Silverstone base now home to Aston Martin, stunned the F1 paddock for the final time when his family announced his passing at 76 in Cape Town.

Ralf Schumacher, a close friend and ex-Jordan driver, said the Irishman remained positive and glued to F1 "right up until the end".

"We talked about the tests and we spoke on the phone a few days ago," the German told Sky Deutschland. "He was always there and was hopeful that he would somehow make it.

"But towards the end, he lost a lot of weight, and that was very exhausting for him."

Jordan had disclosed just a few months earlier that he was facing an "aggressive" prostate cancer that had spread across his body.

German journalist Helmut Uhl of Bild newspaper, a regular contact, shared their last exchange. "They've discovered another tumour on my upper spine," Jordan told him. "I hope they can get rid of it with chemo.

"I have great hope that medicine, with the help of AI, will be able to tackle the cancer."

He also confided to Uhl: "The older doctors have little hope left, but a young doctor told me that with my positive energy, my positive thoughts, and my fitness, I can do it.

"He believes they can stop the cancer."

Fellow German journalist Ralf Bach, another frequent paddock and phone friend, said: "He often sent me videos of his band, and we spoke on the phone twice a week.

"The last time was three weeks ago. It was the first and only time he ever lied to me. His voice sounded brittle and weak, which he blamed on the chemotherapy, but he was saying 'I can do this, everything will be fine'.

"Today I know, he lied because he wanted to protect me. He sensed his end. It was his way of saying goodbye. Now you can teach the angels how to rock and roll," Bach wrote on f1-insider.com.

Schumacher noted Jordan's inner circle had known of his illness "for a while".

"But when the time came, and it happened last night - thank God his wife and friends were there - it is terrible of course. We all hoped until the very end that it would all work out, because he was a bon vivant," the ex-F1 driver said.

"Always full of energy, always playing sports, loving to make music, and right up until the very end, you never really believed that he wouldn't somehow pull it off, as he always did." body check tags ::