FERRARI star Eddie Irvine says another of his lightning starts won't be enough for success in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, for which practice begins this morning.

"There just isn't enough room and the run up to St Devote is too short. I'm going to have to put in a banzai lap on Saturday that's all there is to it," said the Ulsterman about the first corner sprint on the circuit.

"Qualifying well has been a problem. The car really is quiet good in race trim, but once we take the fuel out, the handling goes off," said Irvine, who broke the Fiorano lap record last week.

With two podium finishes in a row Irvine is now competing at the very front in Grand Prix circles and in recent races he has had a chance to see the latest Jordan Peugeot 197 at close quarters: "It's clearly a very good car. I spent a bit of time behind Fisichella at Imola and it seems to handle very nicely and the engine is good," he said of his former associates.

For Eddie Jordan, Monaco can be the proof that for the first time in a decade a Grand Prix team has broken the top four domination of the sport. Jordan has been the clear third team - behind Williams and Ferrari but ahead of McLaren and Benetton, who can't get their cars to work on the new tyres.

"Monaco is always special for me," says Jordan. "I used to come here in the Formula Three days and De Cesaris made a name for us here in 1991 challenging the Ferraris - let's hope we can do the same on Sunday."

Great things are expected of both Jordan drivers, particularly Ralf Schumacher. The 21 year old is already being compared to the young Jody Schecter and Gilles Villeneuve who were both of the "caution to the wind" school of grand prix motoring. Monte Carlo or bust is right. "I live here now. It's the first track this year that I know," he said.

Giancarlo Fisichella, buoyed by his Imola result and the fact that he won the Monaco F3 classic in 1994, will also benefit from the support of a large Italian contingent from nearby San Remo in his streetfight with the 19 other competitors.

Eddie Jordan has both drivers under a $100,000 fine threat if they endanger the team's efforts to finish well on Sunday. This is a vital few weeks for Jordan as he must be ahead of Prost in the championship table to have an option on the use of the improving Peugeot V10 next year.