Eddie Irvine has failed to land a new contract with Jaguar Racing and as widely predicted will be replaced by Minardi driver Mark Webber with immediate effect.

Irvine's team-mate Pedro De la Rosa has also been axed in favour of young Brazilian F3000 racer and Williams test-driver Antonio Pizzonia.

Announcing the clean sweep of new signings yesterday, Jaguar team principal Niki Lauda paid tribute to Irvine saying that the decision in no way reflected on Irvine's worth as a racer.

"I cannot thank Eddie enough for his hard-work and commitment during the last three seasons," said the three-time world champion.

"He has been with us right from day one and while there have been some difficult and challenging periods to endure, Eddie's resilience and focus remained throughout.

"His experience, speed and race craft are exemplary and the decision to replace him in no way reflects upon his clear ability as a competitive racer."

Lauda's words will fall on deaf ears within Formula One, however. Despite scoring Jaguar's only significant results in its three-year lifespan - third places in Monaco 2000 and at Monza this year - the Irishman comes with the reputation of being an inordinately expensive and troublesome team member.

His worth is predicated on results gained during his four years at Ferrari when he assisted Michael Schumacher in his pursuit of Ferrari's first driver world champion since Jody Scheckter in 1979.

Schumacher achieved that goal in 2000, but Irvine was by then long gone, having parlayed his just failed duel to the death championship showdown with Mika Hakkinen in 1999 into a multi-million dollar three-year deal with cash-rich newcomers Jaguar.

Since then, it has been one long tale of woe for Irvine and Jaguar as the Ford-backed team failed to make any meaningful progress as it struggled with ill-conceived car after car.

This year, after initial disaster, Irvine managed to drag some respectable performances from a heavily designed R3, but the almost constant in-fighting and bloodletting within the team have eventually caught up with the outspoken Irishman.

This could serve as notice on Irvine's Formula One career. Irvine has been linked, almost since the start of the season, to a move back to Jordan, with whom he began his F1 career in 1993.

The Irish team is in financial difficulties at the moment, with rumours circulating that Deutsche Post may be about to jump ship.

The team has been promised extra sponsorship from Benson & Hedges if it can bring a "British" driver on board and Irvine, with his outspokenness and playboy image, would suit the tobacco company perfectly.

Eddie Jordan, though, has a love-hate relationship with Irvine and the prospect of bringing the former Ferrari star back to the team may be too much to bear. Irvine, though, fits the current Jordan racing bill quite nicely.

While he is no way the shape of things to come for the team, Irvine, with a vastly reduced wage bill, rumoured to be in the region of $2million, could suit the team well as it makes the transition from Honda power to Ford power.

Irvine has three years experience with Ford. He is also a very experience racer and with Jaguar demonstrated time and again that when it is required he is still a formidable racer who has lost none of his pace. Jordan may still view Irvine as the perfect old dog for the hard roads ahead.

Lurking in the wings, though, is Takuma Sato, whose stock was vastly increased by his fifth place, two-point finish in Japan last month, a performance that netted Jordan sixth place in the constructors' championship and an estimated extra $2 million prize money.

If Sato does hold his seat, then Irvine's options look very thin on the ground.