By Phil Giles (27-01-03)
January 27 2003

It's been reported that Eddie Jordan was nowhere near signing Eddie Irvine for a drive with the team for 2003. EJ said that they wanted Irvine but they could never have matched the Ulsterman's demands.

"I don't think that we were close to signing Eddie at all and he was certainly not going to drive for free. " Said Jordan. "We have Giancarlo Fisichella, who is an expensive driver and we had to look at our budget commercially and build the car for the future and not just for now."

"He knew what we needed for him to drive, but we just couldn't meet his demands," he continued.  'To be truthful in the last couple of months I had put Eddie to one side and if it was going to happen then fine, but I was concentrating on other things.

"Eddie made it clear that his three-year contract with Jaguar was his final shot at it and that was his big-money pay deal. It would be hard for someone to come from that kind of situation and take a big pay cut, particularly if things started to go wrong. Also, Jordan don't want to become known as the graveyard employers."

Jordan is talking to a number of drivers including Felipe Massa ''We are talking to Felipe Massa and a few young British guys about a possible move to Jordan.
''Massa is a young 20-year-old who, if he gets another chance at it, will do a pretty good job.'' he told the paper.

''I go back a long way with Eddie, and I raced with his dad. From my point of view there were a lot of reasons to make a deal possible - but now I'm building a team for the future. You could say that it would have been nice for him to end his career here, but I want the team to be known as one that brings young drivers through into the sport.  He was one of the best characters in F1 and he will be missed, but the sport is bigger than any one driver. I don't think that we should get too carried away, because personalities come and go."

''Eddie was was very different from the rest and I understood him because we are both Irish, but some people didn't like him. Some sponsors loved him, but some thought that what Eddie displayed was a conflict of interests.  Me? I personally loved the guy and I thought he was great. Benson and Hedges felt the same - but it just wasn't to be.''