Jordan the Final Option, Says Irvine

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine has admitted that he will only continue in Formula One next season if Jordan offer him a drive.

Irvine was given the news last Friday that his contract with Jaguar Racing would not be renewed and admitted he will drop his asking price to secure his place on the 2003 Grand Prix grid.

"I suppose the new Jordan-Ford is now the only place left for me," Irvine told the Guardian. "There's no point in saying much else at the moment - but I can tell you that money isn't an issue for me at this stage of my career.

"Niki Lauda kept saying we've no money but I told him to make me an offer. I don't need the money, just promise me a good car. The offer never came. It's all a bit bizarre."

But Lauda has revealed that Irvine's people skills let him down at Jaguar and, although there were never any rows, the ill feeling that the Ulsterman created in the team meant he had to go.

"If an engineer complained he had a problem with Eddie I would say 'give him hell in the next meeting'," Lauda told News of the World. "But sometimes Eddie found that difficult to take - he couldn't even agree to see the other side.

"He is a very demanding driver. He did cause friction but that's Eddie for you. He wanted all the team working for him - his way. Sometimes that's good but sometimes you get less out of people.

"Eddie is very direct and sometimes doesn't think of other people's feelings - people got upset by things that were said. I am not so sensitive but the team suffered a bit on these issues."

Irvine, the oldest man on the grid, was openly critical of the team's efforts and of the R3 car this year and, despite claiming all the team's points, his destructive comments left the team little option but to let him go.