Irvine: My future is bright

Eddie Irvine is in no hurry to sort out a Formula One drive for next year and insists: "My future is bright."

Irvine, who will be 37 in November, is being heavily tipped to rejoin Jordan when his three-year £20m (€31m) deal with Jaguar finishes at the end of the season.

There is speculation in the paddock that a deal to take Irvine back to the team where he started his career in 1993 has already been signed.

But the Ulsterman said: "I am pretty clear in my head what I want to do, but there is no rush to sort out my future.

"I don’t know if we will make an announcement before the end of the season. But I am totally unconcerned about the situation.

"I am quite happy with what is going to happen. My future is bright."

Irvine also claimed Jaguar’s recent improvement will have no bearing on his decision.

"We have come a long way from the beginning, but that was not too difficult," said Irvine. "We had a car with the same pace as the Minardi but with 100 brake horsepower extra so you can imagine how bad it was."

Irvine will resume practice for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza this morning having posted the fourth best time yesterday - two weeks after scoring his and the team’s first point since finishing fourth in the opening race.

"I was not surprised because we had a good test here," added Irvine. "But there is no point reading too much into the times, suffice to say that we are pleased with the pace of the R3 but lets see where we stack up after qualifying.

"The good news is that we are quick, the bad news is that we are worried about the brakes.

"I would not want a brake failure on this track because it is too dangerous. It is just too fast now."

World champion Michael Schumacher will resume having predictably set the pace for Ferrari on their home track, with team-mate Rubens Barrichello his closest rival.

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen led the chasing pack for McLaren but team-mate David Coulthard has some catching up to do after sliding off the track to finish 16th overall.

Jenson Button was 10th for Renault while Allan McNish was 18th in his Toyota.