Saturday March 11th, 2000

McLaren Formula One team chief Ron Dennis on Saturday warned Eddie Irvine to stick to the truth in his recollections of their discussions about the possibility of him joining the team last year.

Dennis told a news conference at the Albert Park circuit following the qualifying session for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix that reports of Irvine saying McLaren could not offer enough money to hire him as a driver were not accurate.

"We as a Grand Prix team do a very detailed analysis of all the available drivers," said Dennis. "In the case of Eddie Irvine, yes we met and yes, we talked.

"But at no stage was money ever discussed. It is unacceptable to me to see things in print which suggest that Eddie Irvine was in any way dictating the terms to us.

"To set the record straight, he was very keen to drive for us, as anyone would be, but the reason we stayed the way we are is that we decided that Mika and David were the best two drivers available to us.

"Eddie has got a colourful character but he shouldn't try to rewrite history."

Irvine drove for Ferrari for four years before parting company with them at the end of last season and is now a member of the Jaguar team.