Irvine linked to Jordan takeover

Eddie Irvine has been linked with a buyout of Jordan just months after the team was taken over by Alex Shnaider's Midland group. According to the rumour mill, Irvine, who retired from F1 in 2002, is heading a consortium reportedly funded by another Russian. Eddie Jordan, who founded the team, would like to see Irvine involved.

"Formula One is in a situation where it needs characters of the ilk of Eddie Irvine," Jordan told the BBC. "It is devoid of the kind of style and parties and lifestyle that F1 has been associated with. Eddie is exactly the kind of guy who can deliver that."

"Whatever anyone says about him, he is a dynamic guy, and has done enormously well with his business outside of Formula One," he added of Irvine, who has amassed a personal fortune from his property dealings. "I think F1 has lost some of the pizzazz, the excitement and the real euphoria that is often associated with it."

Irvine himself, who raced for Ferrari and Jagaur, is remaining coy about his plans. "I think I could do it," he said in regard to becoming a team boss. "I have seen the best in someone like Jean Todt and I have seen the worst in someone like the Ford Motor Company."

"I think I have learnt a lot more from seeing how badly Ford did it because Todt took such great care in everything...with Todt it went pretty much how it should have done. You only learn from your mistakes. Ford showed me how to make mistakes. The Ford experience with Jaguar was much more enlightening but you need to have both."

However, despite all the talk, Shnaider denied that the team was for sale. "It's not true. I don't want to sell the team, absolutely not," he told Reuters. "I was asked theoretically whether it is possible that I would sell the team and I said that everything is for sale."

"We buy businesses, we sell businesses, we buy companies and we sell companies. At the end of the day we are an investment company so obviously things could be sold if the right amount is being offered. But nobody offered me anything. There is nothing going on so I don't know where this is coming from."