Laid back playboy? (Eddie Irvine)

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Product:	Eddie Irvine
Date:	21/02/01 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You either love him or hate him

Disadvantages: Discurtious

Eddie Irvine has a reputation that precedes him in the F1 press as a laid-back playboy who's always good for a controversial comment. When he left Ferrari at the end of 1999 he said his four-year stint as Michael Schumacher's number two was best compared to being hit around the head with a cricket bat every weekend. The Formula 1 paddock generally seems to love him or hate him and he has made enemies easily, but because he says he doesn't care many others admire his honest attitude.

His single-seater career began in Irish Formula Ford and after becoming the British Formula Ford Champion and Formula Ford festival winner in 1987, Irvine breezed through a year in F3 before joining F3000 team Pacific Racing for the 1989 season. He went on to race for Eddie Jordan's F3000 team in 1990, before moving to Japan to spend three seasons racing F3000 and sports cars.

Jordan lured him to the F1 scene for three races at the end of the 1993 season, and Irvine quickly made a name for himself in the paddock. Not for scoring a point for sixth place in his first F1 outing, but for overtaking Ayrton Senna, who was so outraged that he punched him after the race. Irvine stayed at Jordan for a further two seasons, before landing a drive at Ferrari in 1996 as Michael Schumacher's number two.

He finally got a chance to show what he was made of when Schumacher was injured in the 1999 British Grand Prix, leaving Irvine to fight for the title against McLaren's Mika Hakkinen. Thanks partly to his efforts Ferrari won the constructor's title that season for the first time in 16 years. Tired of his playing number two to Schumacher, he signed for Jaguar in 2000 with the hope of finally asserting his position as a real championship contender and team number one.

Sadly the unreliability and lack of speed of the R1 did not allow him to do this, but he nonetheless consistently outclassed team-mate Johnny Herbert, often jumping inside t
he top ten in qualifying. He gave the team their only points of the year in Monaco and Malaysia, but they severely struggled to match the pace of their rivals all season.

He missed the Austrian Grand Prix due to health reasons and while cynics suggested that he had fallen out with the team, his three-year deal with Jaguar has not been threatened. His number one position with the team will continue in 2001, when he pairs up with their former test driver Luciano Burti. And if new boss Bobby Rahal can get the team's act together, Irvine has the potential to make more regular appearances in the points in 2001.

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