Eddie Irvine in 1999

So Eddie arrived in Japan with a 4 point advantage after the dramatic happenings in Malaysia and Paris. He would need to win the race or make sure Hakkinen didn't if he was to stand a chance of the world championship. It didn't start too well with a poor qualifying position in 5th place. However Michael Schumacher was able to take pole and this looked good for preventing the Hakkinen win. At the start the Finn took Michael Schumacher and it became clear that Michael was going to have trouble beating him now. The Ferrari team eventually finished 2nd and 3rd which was enough to win the constructor's championship, but sadly the wrong man took the chequered flag and the championship was finally handed to Mika Hakkinen. So we didn't get the British world championship but Mika deserved the crown in the end of a truly exciting season. Just one thing to note in an aside, it would have been a totally different picture if Eddie had been allowed to pass Michael Schumacher in France!!

Finished 3rd

Stop Press. Eddie reinstated as race winner after Ferrari win appeal against disqualification.

Well everything came good for Eddie in Malaysia and he has a lot of thanks to give Michael Schumacher for his great comeback to the F1 scene after breaking his leg at Silverstone. The Ferrari was fitted out with some new developments and these certainly put them back on the pass. The two Ferrari's outqualified both the McLarens to give them the advantage, with an excellent pole position from Schuey. The Ferrari's kept their position at the start and although Michael pulled out to begin with he dutily let Eddie through, so he could play the stalling game with McLaren. Eddie had opted for 2 stops and he did go from 1st to 3rd when he stopped for the 2nd time, but fortunately Mika needed to stop again two and so Michael let Eddie through once again to make it a great win for Eddie and a 1-2 for Ferrari. It's advantage Ferrari now. Let's hope Eddie can win that well-deserved world championship in Japan.

Finished 1st

Eddie Irvine's championship bid took a bad turn during qualifying. In the drying session Irvine did leave it late for his flyer but he pushed just too hard and lost the car. This meant he was down in a lowly 9th place. The race went a little better to begin with soon getting up to 7th and then hitting the points in 6th. However when the pit stops came Irvine had a disaster. The Ferrari crew didn't have 4 wheels to put on the car and there was any agonising wait while the mechanic went and got one! Someone will be getting a severe telling off I would think. This effectively ended his points bid. However the race was one of attrition and soon through retirements Eddie found himself in the points again, but unfortunately Mika Hakkinen had crept up on him and was pushing him hard. Eddie made a mistake under the pressure and lost the car momentarily to let Mika through. So no points for Eddie and 2 for Mika but it could have been worse for the championship race. It's not over yet!

Finished 7th

The Ferrari has been performing a bit poorly of late and Eddie had lost his lead in the world championship. It was hoped that a home crowd would spur the team on to a good result. However, qualifying was disappointing with the Ferrari clearly off the pace. Eddie could only manage an 8th place on the grid. Not a very good place to start. However the race became another story when Mika Hakkinen made a rare mistake and took himself out of the race. So any points Eddie made would now be a bonus. He drove round the circuit quite well and secure 6th place for a point to bring him back up to level points with Mika Hakkinen. And so this makes the last 3 races truly interesting, it's still anyones game, but Ferrari ought to be doing better.

Finished 6th

Eddie Irvine came to Spa hoping to leave still leading the world championship. However, the Ferrari was not going well at this circuit. Eddie only managed to qualify in 6th place and he lot's of work to do. The race turned out to be all down to the start and Eddie made a brilliant one to jump up into 4th place. He was unable to do anything about the two McLaren's and Frentzen and so had to settle for 4th. Not bad considering, and particularly good that Coulthard won the race as this meant Hakkinen lost a valuable 4 points extra. So Eddie lost the championship lead but is only 1 point behind going into Monza, and I think Eddie will be quite happy with that.

Finished 4th

Eddie came to Hungary looking for a Hatrick of wins, and he was going to make a good go at it. Qualifying performance was a real fighting effort and he came close to getting pole, but the McLaren is still the best car on the grid and he didn't quite have enough in there to get his first pole. 2nd on the grid is OK for his championship. In the race Irvine was doing a good job, but when David Coulthard had caught up the pressure was on. He made a little mistake and let the McLaren past and so had to settle for 3rd place. This was enough to keep the championship but I would think Eddie will be a little annoyed with himself for not make 2nd place.

Finished 3rd

Well Eddie had pulled off a brilliant win in Austria, but it was thought unlikely he could do it again in Germany. Qualifying wasn't brilliant for Eddie in 4th place behind his new team mate Mika Salo, and it looked like McLaren had the edge. However the race was a disaster for McLaren, and Mika Salo was in the lead of the race when Hakkinen was out. Eddie was behind him but we all new he would have to let Eddie past, and he duly did. So once again, against the odds Irvine pulled off a 2nd successive win and now leads the championship by 8 points. Are we really going to see another British world champion, I certainly hope so!.

Finished 1st

Eddie was the main man in Austria. In the run up to Austria Eddie wasn't making too many friends with his outspoken comments, but he was just being the Eddie we all know and love. In Austria he was able to show his true spirit. Qualifying wasn't exactly impressive but 3rd spot is where we all expected him to be and so the race is winable from there. To begin with it didn't look like Eddie was going to do anything special, with Eddie losing out to Barrichello and not seemingly being able to make much impression on the Stewart. However this later became clear when we discovered Ferrari were running with a bit more fuel on board, so that they could make a late pit stop. This took McLaren unaware as I don't think they saw Eddie as a big threat and David may not have been pushing quite as hard as he should have been. Ferrari tactics were once again brilliant and the late stop had allowed Eddie to close the gap and head out of the pits infront of David. Quite outstanding. Eddie had some brake problems but he was able to just about keep David at bay and take a brilliant win that was thoroughly deserved and silenced his critics big time! Eddie is now in a great postion to mount a charge for the championship and I will certainly be wanting to see Eddie win the championship for Britain. It's going to tough, but Eddie will certainly give it a good go.

Finished 1st

Eddie was well on the pace over the weekend, and another good qualifying performance for 4th place on the grid. Eddie had a great start on the first start too taking Michael Schumacher. However, it was short lived when Michael suffered some braking problem and crashed very heavily into the barriers. It later emerged that Michael had suffered a broken leg. So Eddie is now on his own and basically the Ferrari No.1 now and with a chance of the championship! So with Eddie hoping to score as many points as possible we saw a great scrap with David Coulthard who had taken the lead when Hakkinen had wheel problems. Unfortunately, Eddie made a mistake in the pit stops and took a little longer when he overshot the pit. If it hadn't been for this then Eddie could easily have won. So Eddie for the championship??? There's no reason why not and Ferrari will now be wishing they had let Eddie past Michael in the last race to get a couple more points in the bag. I'm going to be cheering for him that's for sure.

Finished 2nd

Once again Eddie was left flying the flag for Britain. His weekend didn't get off to the best of starts with the rain hindering his qualifying performance and he had to make do with 17th on the grid. However, during the race Eddie did his usual trick of flying through the field and after the rain came again and more pit stops he was up to 6th place. However, Eddie was the poor victim of his stupid contract that doesn't allow him to race Michael Schumacher when he has more points than him. So despite Eddie being much faster in the closing stages and the distinct possibility of 4th place, he was forced to take station behind Schuey and stay there. Please Please Eddie for god's sack don't sign a contract like that again!

Finished 6th

Well Eddie Irvine had a superb race in Canada. Qualifying went well and it looked like it would be an all Ferrari front row, until Hakkinen pulled one out from somewhere towards the end of qualifying. Still the race was looking good. Irvine kept out of trouble to keep 3rd and he was pushing Hakkinen hard. The safety car came out after Villeneuve hit the barriers and Coulthard saw this as an opportunity to get by, he tried he lost, but unfortunately both cars spun. They were able to continue and Eddie lit the blue touch paper and flew his Ferrari round the cicuit, by the end of the race he has set the fastest lap and had got upto 3rd. He may have even been able to get past Fisichela at the end too had it not been for the saftey car. Still it was a superb race for Eddie and he is showing us all that he is a world class racing driver.

Finished 3rd

Eddie looked like he would be able to do very well in Spain. His qualifying performance was exceptional, nearly taking pole but eventually being outqualified into 2nd by Hakkinen, but ahead of team-mate Schuey who was in 4th. It looked possible that the Ferrari may be able to pressure the McLaren's and possibly even take a win. However, Eddie Irvine made a poor start and he dropped back into 5th with the 2 Ferrari's apparently being held up by Villeneuve until the first stops. He did his usual trick from there getting the car home in 4th after Villeneuve retired. It could have been a lot better than that, but let's hope Eddie keeps the bug and puts all the pressure on Michael in Canada.

Finished 4th

Once again Eddie was the man left waving the flag for the British Fans. There was a good scrap between McLaren's and Ferrari's in qualifying and Eddie was just edged out of 3rd spot into 4th by Coulthard. It was clear that Ferrari had a better set up though and it was looking hopeful for the race. We weren't disappointed either, Eddie made a great start and was able to get past Coulthard to race in 3rd. Pit stop strategy allowed the Ferrari to get past Hakkinen too. So the Monaco fans were treated to a nice Ferrari 1-2 and it appears that Ferrari are going to put up a great fight for the championship, with Schuey and Eddie numbers 1 and 2.

Finished 2nd

Eddie apparently had a £5000 bet on himself to come away from San Marino still leading the world championship. This looked entirely possible with Eddie showing some great times in practice sessions. In qualifying Irvine was in the normal place of 4th position. Things were going well in the race too. He was running closely with David Coulthard and it appeared that it may have been possible for Ferrari to secure a 1-2 infront of the tifosi. However, and engine blow out paid end to his charge and he was out.

Retired - Engine Problems

After a quite stunning win in Australia, we were looking for another great result in Brazil to give Ferrari something to think about in terms of the championship. In qualifying it was clear that the Ferrari was still struggling to be on the pace and Eddie put in a good performance to claim 6th on the grid. The race started reasonably well and it was looking good for Eddie to be on the podium at the end of the race. There was a good battle between Eddie and Ralf Schumacher and Frentzen, but for some odd reason Eddie was called in for a late pit stop and the battle was lost and Eddie had to make do with 5th place. However, 5th place was still enough to see Eddie still leading the championship after 2 races. Imola next, practically home for Ferrari and a good result will be expected.

Finished 5th

Eddie had a great weekend in his Ferarri in the end. Qualifying wasn't quite what Ferrari were expecting being somewhat off the pace of the McLaren's. Eddie qualified in 6th and we were expecting him to do his usual race to the podium. The race looked like McLaren were going to walk away from it, however, they had bad reliabilty problems. Eddie found himself taking the lead after the safety car went in and Hakkinen slowed. He drove superbly from here despite pressure from Frentzen and he was able to keep at the front. Michael Schumacher had major problems with his car and was a lap down and therefore no team rules came into being. So Eddie was able to score a brilliant well-deserved first Grand Prix win and give the British Fans something to really cheer about as the other 3 went out. Hopefully, Irvine will have further wins this season, but for now Eddie is leading the world championship, YEAH!!

Finished 1st (Yeah Eddie's first GP victory!)