Thursday March 9th, 2000

by Julian Linden

The jet-setting playboy image of Formula One racing drivers is alive and well, if Northern Ireland's Eddie Irvine is any example.

Last year's championship runner-up has been a constant figure in the build-up to this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, popping up with alarming regularity.

The former Ferrari pilot now with Jaguar was seen jet-skiing on Sydney Harbour on Tuesday and has spent the bulk of the past two days appearing on television chat shows, talking candidly about his playboy lifestyle.

He told one late-night programme on Wednesday that he prefers not to tell women he's a Formula One race car driver "unless it's the last resort."

At a news conference for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, which he won last year, Irvine laughed off questions about his apparently never-ending string of public appearances while most of the other drivers have been gravely preparing for the race.

"I'll have to drive quickly during Saturday's qualifying session because I've a PR (public relations) appointment scheduled for halfway through it," he joked.

When asked about how he expected the new Jaguar to perform this season, Irvine was more serious, admitting the new team had its work cut out just being competitive.

"There's a lot of areas we need to improve on but we're in pretty good shape at the moment," he said.

"I'd be very surprised if we were competitive with Mclaren and Ferrari. If we are then it's because they're doing something wrong.

"They've got years behind them. Formula One's all about physics and our physics aren't there at the moment."