Jordan Not Ruling Out Irvine Move

Jordan are not ruling out the prospect of Eddie Irvine rejoining the team that gave him his Formula One break next season.

Irvine lost his seat after Jaguar confirmed Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia in their line-up today but could have a future in Formula One with Jordan.

Jordan have drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Takuma Sato under contract for next season, but Jaguar proved contracts count for little after also ditching Irvine's teammate Pedro de la Rosa - despite the Spaniard having a deal to drive for them for another year.

"We have drivers under contract for next year but things can change," said Jordan's business affairs director Ian Philips. "We cannot hide from the fact that times are a bit tough and it could well be that our drivers will be decided by commercial issues."

De la Rosa's sacking will cost Jaguar millions of pounds in compensation, but Jordan are not in as strong a position to pay off one of their drivers.

Irvine would most likely replace rookie Sato, but the Japanese driver staked his claim to stay when finishing fifth in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix.

Replacing Sato would undoubtedly pull on team boss Eddie Jordan's heart strings because he gets a kick from finding and nurturing raw talents and has openly raved about his potential.

The result in Japan earned Jordan valuable points which promoted them to sixth in the constructors' table and earned them extra millions of pounds in prize money.

But Jordan are aware that a driver of Irvine's experience could help a team make the most of the new single qualifying lap rule and points system which is being extended to reward the top eight finishers in each race.

Philips added: "Eddie Irvine is a friend of Jordan. We gave him his F1 break in 1993 and sold him to Ferrari and have remained good friends since.

"I did speak to Eddie on Monday but he was on holiday in Miami. We never got around to him discussing Jordan because he was still a Jaguar driver then."