Formula 1: Irvine feeling the heat

Eddie Irvine admits he is beginning to feel the heat - but not over his job at Jaguar Racing.

The Ulsterman is more concerned about how the heat and humidity of Malaysia will affect man and machine next weekend, than about his future with the team.

Irvine heads into the second round of the 17-race season in Kuala Lumpur amid increasing speculation that he will not see out his three-year, £18m contract with Jaguar which ends next year.

Spain’s Pedro de la Rosa has been signed as a test driver with the promise of a drive in 2002 while Scotland’s Dario Franchitti is again being linked with the team.

Franchitti, who has the same manager as de la Rosa, tested for Jaguar last year but decided to extend his contract with Champ Car outfit Team KOOL Green for another season.

But with Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal warning Franchitti he has got to make the switch to Formula One by next season, the pressure on Irvine has inevitably increased.

Irvine is understood to have a performance clause in his contract which the team could exercise if they felt his results did not come up to scratch this year.

The 35-year-old himself admitted before last weekend’s season opener in Australia that if he - or team-mate Luciano Burti - under-performed they would not deserve to have the drive.

But Irvine, who finished 11th in Melbourne after being punted off at the first corner by Williams debutant Juan Pablo Montoya, admits his main concern is about the weather for next Sunday’s race in Kuala Lumpur.

The two previous grands prix at Sepang have been held late in the year, but for this season the race has been brought forward to much earlier to tie in with the opener in Australia.

But it means the race will take place with temperatures expected to be well in the 30s as well as strength-sapping humidity and a high prospect of rain.

Four times in the past five seasons it has rained on March 18 - race day - in Kuala Lumpur which could increase the chances of an unexpected winner.

"At this early stage of the year, hot weather is not what you need for the cars," said Irvine.

"I haven’t been testing since Australia so I have had plenty of time to keep fit.

"That is going to be particularly important this year as I understand it could be even hotter than when we have been there in the past.

"But at least Melbourne confirmed our feeling that our cars would be reliable so hopefully we can build on that and start upping the pace."

Irvine has happy memories of the magnificent state-of-the-art track at Sepang having won the maiden race in 1999 for Ferrari although he was handed victory by Michael Schumacher.

Last year he ended the season in Malaysia by finishing sixth, only the second scoring race he managed in the team’s disappointing debut year.

!It doesn’t mean much, but it adds to the feelgood factor," said Irvine, whose boss Rahal believes he would have been in the points in Melbourne but for the incident with Montoya.

Even with the weather factor, world champion Schumacher will start as overwhelming favourite to follow up his win in Melbourne with another victory for Ferrari.

While Schumacher jetted off in his private plane for a holiday on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, main rival Mika Hakkinen chose to make the long trip back to Europe to see his three-month old son Hugo.

But Hakkinen, who crashed out in Australia following a suspension failure in his McLaren, is confident he can shrug off the jetlag and hit back in style next Sunday.

"I left Australia after the race to go back and spend some time with my family and am now ready for round two," said Hakkinen, who saw team-mate David Coulthard finish second.

"I’m focusing on securing my first points of the 2001 season and the whole team is optimistic that we will leave Malaysia with a good result."