Eddie Irvine

Eddie Irvine is most famous for joining Ferrari in 1996 to support Michael Schumacher’s championship campaign, but he nearly claimed the title himself in 1999.

Nationality	British
Born	Edmund Irvine 10 November 1965 Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland

Irvine made his Formula 1 debut with Jordan at the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix, where he controversially unlapped himself, angering Ayrton Senna and earning a post-race punch from the Brazilian.

Controversy followed Irvine into 1994 when he was blamed by the FIA for a four-car pile-up in the season’s first race. After he appealed the decision, his initial one-race ban was extended to three races.

After three years with Jordan, Irvine moved to Ferrari, where he described his role as Schumacher’s backup as akin to “being hit over the head with a cricket bat.” Though he rarely matched Schumacher’s speed, he occasionally played a crucial supporting role, such as at the 1997 Japanese Grand Prix, where he held up Jacques Villeneuve to benefit Schumacher.

When Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone in 1999 while attempting to pass Irvine, Irvine assumed the role of lead driver supported by Mika Salo. He had already secured his first F1 victory that year in Melbourne and added two more wins in Austria and Germany during Schumacher’s absence.

Irvine’s title bid faltered somewhat upon Schumacher’s return at the penultimate round in Malaysia. This time, Schumacher aided Irvine by holding up the McLarens, enabling Irvine to secure his fourth and final victory.

Despite leading Mika Hakkinen by four points heading into the final race, Irvine couldn’t match the pace of either Hakkinen or Schumacher, and Hakkinen clinched the title. Irvine left Ferrari as Rubens Barrichello, his former Jordan teammate, took his place, and Irvine moved to Jaguar.

However, his time with Jaguar was disappointing, as the team often struggled with pace. Irvine managed only two podium finishes over three years before retiring from F1.

Post-retirement, Irvine has successfully built a lucrative property portfolio.

Eddie Irvine Formula One World Championship career

F1 Career	1993–2002
Teams	Jordan, Ferrari, Jaguar
Entries	148 (145 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	4
Podiums	26
Career points	191
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First entry	1993 Japanese Grand Prix
First win	1999 Australian Grand Prix
Last win	1999 Malaysian Grand Prix
Last entry	2002 Japanese Grand Prix

Eddie Irvine Teammates

6 drivers	Involvement	First Year	Last Year
Rubens Barrichello	32	1993	1995
Michael Schumacher	59	1996	1999
Mika Salo	6	1999
Johnny Herbert	17	2000
Luciano Burti	5	2000	2001
Pedro de la Rosa	30	2001	2002

Race Wins

Win Number	Grand Prix
1	1999 Australian Grand Prix
2	1999 Austrian Grand Prix
3	1999 German Grand Prix
4	1999 Malaysian Grand Prix

Complete Formula One Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1993	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 193	Hart 1035 3.0 V10	RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN 6	AUS Ret		22nd	1
1994	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 194	Hart 1035 3.5 V10	BRA Ret	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP 6	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR DNS	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 13 †	ITA Ret	POR 7	EUR 4	JPN 5	AUS Ret		16th	6
1995	Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 195	Peugeot A10 3.0 V10	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR 8	ESP 5	MON Ret	CAN 3	FRA 9	GBR Ret	GER 9 †	HUN 13 †	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 10	EUR 6	PAC 11	JPN 4	AUS Ret	12th	10
1996	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari F310	Ferrari 046 V10	AUS 3	BRA 7	ARG 5	EUR Ret	SMR 4	MON 7 †	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 5	JPN Ret		10th	11
1997	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F310B	Ferrari 046/2 V10	AUS Ret	BRA 16	ARG 2	SMR 3	MON 3	ESP 12	CAN Ret	FRA 3	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 9 †	BEL 10 †	ITA 8	AUT Ret	LUX Ret	JPN 3	EUR 5	7th	24
1998	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F300	Ferrari 047 V10	AUS 4	BRA 8	ARG 3	SMR 3	ESP Ret	MON 3	CAN 3	FRA 2	GBR 3	AUT 4	GER 8	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 2	LUX 4	JPN 2		4th	47
1999	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F399	Ferrari 048 V10	AUS 1	BRA 5	SMR Ret	MON 2	ESP 4	CAN 3	FRA 6	GBR 2	AUT 1	GER 1	HUN 3	BEL 4	ITA 6	EUR 7	MAL 1	JPN 3		2nd	74
2000	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R1	Cosworth CR2 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 7	GBR 13	ESP 11	EUR Ret	MON 4	CAN 13	FRA 13	AUT WD	GER 10	HUN 8	BEL 10	ITA Ret	USA 7	JPN 8	MAL 6	13th	4
2001	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R2	Cosworth CR3 V10	AUS 11	MAL Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	AUT 7	MON 3	CAN Ret	EUR 7	FRA Ret	GBR 9	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL DNS	ITA Ret	USA 5	JPN Ret	12th	6
2002	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R3	Cosworth CR3 V10	AUS 4	MAL Ret	BRA 7	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	AUT Ret	MON 9	CAN Ret	EUR Ret									9th
		Jaguar R3B	Cosworth CR3 V10										GBR Ret	FRA Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 6	ITA 3	USA 10	JPN 9

Sources: Wikipedia.com