Eddie Irvine in 1998

Ferrari had kept away from the other teams in winter testing and it was difficult to call on how they would perform. Ferrari need a world championship and they are hoping it will come good in 1998. Eddie qualified in 8th place 5 places behind Michael Schumacher. In the race Michael retired early with what looked like an engine blow out and this must cast some doubts on their reliability, but Eddie managed to keep going and through a good one-stop pit strategy ended the race in a creditable 4th place ahead of world champion Villeneuve.

Finished 4th

Eddie did well in Australia and he must have been hoping for a repeat performance in Brazil. He qualified very well in 6th place just 2/10ths off Michael. Things didn't go so well in the race and Eddie only managed to finish 8th in the end. Still it was a finish and reliability wise the Ferrari now looks good.

Finished 8th

Ferrari seemed to have made big improvements for Argentina and were up there with the 2 McLarens. Eddie qualified in 4th place but could easily have been up there on the front row if wasn't for some appalling bad luck with backmarkers. Still Eddie raced brilliantly keeping his cool to come home on the podium. Eddie's nearly there for that elusive win and he must be hoping he'll get it this year now.

Finished 3rd

It looks as if Eddie is going to have a great season with a pretty competitive Ferrari. Eddie qualified a fine 4th place just behind Michael Schumacher and it was obvious that he would be in contention for a podium place. Driving consistently and having some nice pit stops Eddie was able to get on that 3rd step of the podium despite a strong effort from Jacques Villeneuve just behind. Keep up the good work Eddie!

Finished 3rd

Eddie qualified in 6th place for Ferrari with the Benettons shod with Bridgestone tyres showing good performance to split the 2 Ferraris. Eddie made one of his excellent starts in the race and was able to drive past the 2 Benettons and team mate Michael to take third. He stayed there for a while and Michael was only able to get past after the pit stops, however Fisichella was also close behind and he made a go if it with Eddie to try and take 4th place. However, Fisichella turned in on Eddie to take both of them out. Fisichella thought it was Eddie's fault and told him so, but Eddie kept his cool knowing that it was in the right and Fisichella had trashed his own race.

Retired, accident with Fisichella

It was yet another consistent performance from Eddie at Monaco. Qualifying wasn't anything spectacular, with 7th place, although this may have been higher if he hadn't wrecked his car coming out of the swimming pool complex. Still 7th place is a good place to start if you want to pick up places through retirements. Frentzen was helped out by Eddie and with Coulthard, Wurz and team mate Michael going out, Eddie found himself yet again at the bottom tier of the podium in 3rd place. Aim for the next tier next time Eddie!

Finished 3rd

Eddie seems to be a good bet for a podium place this year, and Canada was no exception. Eddie qualified in 8th place in what was quite a close session. Eddie was not able to avoid all the problems in the race and needed to pit for a punctured tyre which put him down the field. Fortunately there were lots of retirements and Eddie managed to work his way back up the field and was able to finish the race in 3rd place. A good achievement in such a incident packed race.

Finished 3rd

Well what can we say about the loveable Eddie Irvine. Qualifying in a resurging Ferrari saw Eddie take 4th place on the grid. He made a brilliant start in the race, and was up into 2nd place keeping the two McLarens nicely behind them. It was a sterling effort and Eddie managed to keep Mika Hakkinen behind even in the later stages when Mika was giving him some serious pressure. At the line Mika went for it and Eddie hung on to get the very well-deserved place for 2nd by just a tenth of a second!

Finished 2nd

Eddie is proving he is mister consistent in 1998 with 5 podiums in the last six races, and looking good for a 6th podium at Silverstone. Qualifying was probably a little disappointing for Eddie with 5th place, but still a good position to aim for the podium. In the race Eddie made an appalling start and was down to 10th on the first lap and he was going to need to do some serious overtaking. Serious overtaking is exactly what Eddie did too, passing Wurz, Herbert, Hill, Villeneuve and Frentzen in just 12 laps, and then taking Alesi in the pits on lap 22, and passing Johnny on lap 24 to take 3rd place. The safety car coming out in torrential rain evened things up again, and Eddie amazingly found himself hassling Mika Hakkinen for 2nd place. However this feat was just beyond Eddie and he had to settle for another 3rd place podium finish. Nevertheless, his performance gave the British fans something to cheer about.

Finished 3rd

'Mr. Podium' Eddie, would be looking to keep his reputation up in Austria. Qualifying saw him in 8th place, a little behind, but nevertheless a place to challenge for that podium. Eddie didn't disappoint, he got a good start and managed to get into 3rd place by lap 29. However, owing to a rare mistake by Michael Schumacher he was behind Eddie following a pit for a new nose cone. We all knew that Michael would not stay in that position. Anyway, due to Coulthard's manoeuvre in the first race at Melbourne the regulations were changed to make it a rule infringement to blatantly let your team-mate past. Ferrari needed to come up with some excuse to slow Eddie down so that Michael could pass him less obviously. Martin Brundle in the commentary box provided the answer, brakes! And sure enough that's what Ross Brawn and Eddie Irvine told everyone with a wry smile. So Eddie was left without a podium in Austria.

Finished 4th

The Ferrari was strangely off the pace in Germancy. Eddie managed to qualify ahead of Michael Schumacher, but only with 6th place. Eddie was going to find it hard to help Michael with the championship. However, he duely let Michael past him and then it would be up to him to get into the points. Eddie had a good scrap with Fisichella throughout the race, but he wasn't able to get past. Eddie finished in 8th place and he will be hoping the Ferrari regains it's competetiveness in Hungary.

Finished 8th.

Qualifying for Eddie went reasonable well with a nice 5th place, however, he would have Damon to contend with just ahead in 4th on the grid. The start went according to plan for Eddie with Damon slightly slowing to let Eddie come through into 4th. He stayed there for a few laps, but ended up being one of the first retirements, suffering gearbox problems. He therefore was not in a position to help Michael Schumacher in the championship fight, but he was not needed as Schuey took a well deserved win by masterly pit stop tactics.

Retired, gearbox

Qualifying was not bad for Eddie with the Ferrari taking 5th place on the grid just behind team-mate Schumacher. However, in the 1st start of the race Eddie was able to avoid the carnage and his car was wrecked. Fortunately, he was allowed to take the spare and take the restart. However, he was caught out by the wet conditions and spun off on a lap 26 whilst in 7th place. So no points for Eddie for the 3rd race in row

Retired

Another weekend for Eddie and the usual do whatever you can to help Michael Schumacher rules were in place. Eddie qualified quite well with a fine 5th place, but with 2 McLaren's it was looking unlikely that Eddie could do much for the championship. However, Michael Schumacher made a bad start and Eddie ended up ahead of Michael. So it was not long before he duly let Michael in front and it was the usual keep going and make places up race. He did this admirably and was able to make it a 1-2 for Ferrari when Mika Hakkinen's car was slowing due to a brake problem. So an excellent 2nd position and the possibility of Ferrari winning the constructors championship with only 2 races to go and only a 10 point gap. Now we wouldn't have thought that in the first half of the season!

Finished 2nd

The Ferrari Team came into the Nurburgring putting all the pressure they could on McLaren and Mika Hakkinen. Eddie was going to do his upmost to help Michael Schumacher with the championship. Qualifying went really well and Eddie was able to the front row of the grid alongside Michael, leaving McLaren in 3rd and 5th. Eddie got a superb start and was able to take the lead into the first corner, however we all knew that Michael would soon be waved past. Eddie did a great job in 2nd keeping the McLaren's at bay. However, Mika Hakkinen was soon putting the pressure on and Eddie was unable to prevent him going past on lap 13. David Coulthard eventually went past through pit stops and Eddie had to settle for 4th place.

Finished 4th

Eddie the Ferrari number two man was going to be an important man in Japan, needing a great result to prevent Mika winning the championship, provided Michael Schumacher could win. Qualifying was a good effort and he was just behind Coulthard in 4th spot and from there he could cause McLaren all sorts of problems. As it turned out Michael had to start at the back of the grid after stallig his Ferrari, and therefore Eddie must have been thinking, OK let's go for my first win. The race start went well for him and he was behind Mika Hakkinen in 2nd place. From there he did put a lot of pressure on Mika, but it just wasn't enough to stand a chance of getting past and he again had to settle for 2nd. Nevertheless it was a good drive and hopefully 1999 will provide Eddie with a much deserved win.

Finished 2nd