Irvine nears end of the road

In true wild west style, Eddie Irvine could, this weekend, be entering his own last chance saloon at the US Grand Prix. Rumours circulating the paddock are speculating that the Irishman could be on his way out of troubled Jaguar, and possibly out of Formula One.

The former Ferrari star has been quiet on the subject, but while he has been talking up the potential for next year's R3 challenger, the Jaguar number one is known to be dissatisfied with progress at the team, which this year has scored just seven points. Four of those points have come from Irvine, but all were garnered as far back as May's Monaco Grand Prix, where Irvine took a surprise third.

But if Irvine's feelings towards the team he joined with such fanfare last year have chilled, Jaguar's loyalty to the Irishman has faltered too. Since that third place in Monaco, Irvine has toiled through a miserable slide, with just a seventh place at the European Grand Prix to show for his efforts. Indeed, since Monaco, Irvine has finished just twice in eight attempts and has completed none of his last four races.

More crucially, he has slipped badly against team-mate Pedro De la Rosa. In early season, teamed with Luciano Burti, Irvine consistently had the upper hand, beating out the Brazilian time and again, until De la Rosa's arrival at the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of April. Irvine was unfazed, and outqualified the ex-Arrows man through five of the next six races.

But in recent months Irvine has sagged, being outpaced by De la Rosa in each of the last five grands prix, a statistic that has surely raised eyebrows in the boardroom of Jaguar's parent company, Ford, which may begin to question the reputed $12 million a year they pay to Irvine.

Yesterday, Irvine admitted his qualifying problems have deepened the woes of an already difficult season.

"My qualifying this year has been a disaster," he said with uncharacteristic self-criticism. "I don't know how much that has been me and how much has been because of other problems. If I can just get good in a good qualifying that really has been the big issue for me."

Irvine also admitted this weekend is not likely to see a grand turnaround in his fortunes.

"The car didn't work well here last year," he said. "It was one of the worst circuits for out tyres (then Bridgestone). This Michelin is a very good tyre though. We had a good test at Silverstone with new tyres and that should be worth a few steps this weekend."

If Irvine's Jaguar seat is under threat, then the Irishman at least has dug himself into a good defensive position. With no top line drive available elsewhere, Irvine is not likely to remove himself from Jaguar's troubled and water-treading set-up. Also, with one-year on his contract, Jaguar may think twice about firing the 36-year-old and having to pay him $12 million to drive elsewhere, or soak up the sun at his Miami home.

Jaguar also desperately require consistency. After 2000 team boss Neil Ressler left the helm for personal reasons, and after 2001 boss Bobby Rahal was recently ousted in favour of Niki Lauda, the team is in dire need of the purposeful direction which driver and management continuity can bring to development.

Irvine also knows that Jaguar's options elsewhere are limited. The team had expressed interest in Heinz Harald Frentzen earlier in the year when the German was in the midst of complex contract negotiations with Jordan, but since his sacking from the Irish outfit in July, Frentzen has become damaged goods, and Jaguar may not feel confident about taking on a driver whose mental fortitude has been questioned by both Williams and Jordan.

Yesterday, in early morning free practice, Irvine began in positive form, finishing the first hour's practice in 11th spot, an encouraging six-tenths ahead of De la Rosa, the man he must now beat.

The morning's fastest time was set by Michael Schumacher, the German running just four-hundredths of a second quicker than McLaren's David Coulthard.

Third place was taken by Schumacher's Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with Jordan-bound Giancarlo Fisichella fourth in an impressive looking Benetton. Jarno Trulli, the man Fisichella will replace at the Irish tea in 2002, was seventh despite four spins during the first hour of free practice. Team-mate Jean Alesi, who this weekend joins the elite club of drivers to make it to the 200 grands prix mark, finished the session in 19th place.