Eddie Irvine, who shrugged off an early morning spin to finish fifth fastest in practice yesterday, opens the second half of his best ever racing season with a clear target of closing the five-point gap on David Coulthard - the fastest man yesterday - and snatching third place in the World Drivers Championship. While Irvine has 25 points from eight races, Eddie Jordan needs no reminding of his blank scoresheet going into this afternoon's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Tomorrow's race debut of the B&H Jordan 198B has extra pressure for the Dubliner, being the home race for his superstar driver Damon Hill and for the team's lavish sponsor Benson & Hedges.
Irvine, the quicker of the Ferraris yesterday, is at a crossroads in his career: "I want to win a Grand Prix at some stage and I don't have all that much time left." He confirmed that he is talking to other teams: "If I stay with Ferrari I need an assurance that I will be allowed try and win races."
Irvine explained his options: "I feel I'm in a good position to negotiate. I'm the best driver on the market," he added factually. Ron Dennis the McLaren boss, is not a fan of Irvine's but Frank Williams is. The problem is that with the Williams BMW not racing until 2000, it's unlikely to be a winning proposition until the following year at the earliest.
"I'd be 35 then and the body is wearing out!" he joked last night, adding that he expected to be able to make an announcement in the near future.
Williams director Partick Head last night confirmed that he has had discussions with former Jordan driver Alex Zanardi: "We're talking but nothing is decided," said Head, whose family come from Birr, Co Offaly.
Silverstone will be the defining race for 1998 for Jordan. The team's number one focus is to persuade Honda not to go F1 alone but to buy into Jordan Grand Prix. That requires credible results in the second half of this season. Tomorrow will show whether the 198B is the car to deliver and yesterday's opening day of qualifying did not provide an answer - Ralf Schumacher was ninth fastest and Damon Hill 10th.
Jordan believes this will be the turning point for the team: "Damon gets great support here and clearly captures the English imagination like no other driver. He won here in 1994 and these elements will raise his game," said the Dubliner.
Jordan was not disappointed with yesterday's practice: "I don't read a lot into it. We are chasing points this weekend and our focus is a good race set up. We ran virtually the whole session with a lot of fuel on board".
He rejected the idea that the cancellation of the traditional Jordan post-race party was because the team is entering a new, more serious era: "Not at all. The World Cup is on when the party usually takes place. My drum playing and Damon's guitar playing can't compete with that I'm afraid," he quipped. Coulthard made an emotional homecoming to Silverstone as he clocked the fastest time of the opening day's practice for tomorrow's race that is crucial to his chances of winning the World Championship.
Coulthard, who was denied a victory at Silverstone in 1995 by a pit-lane speeding penalty, added: "This is the race I want to win more than any other. It would be a dream come true if I were to win the British Grand Prix, even though it does only bring the same 10 points."
Coulthard, fined around £5,000 for pit-lane speeding yesterday, had a best time of 1 minute, 25.640 seconds to finish just over one tenth of a second ahead of McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Mika Hakkinen.
The Twynholm-born racer is third in the championship 20 points behind Hakkinen and 14 adrift of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher who was just seventh quickest.
