Eddie Irvine

Eddie Irvine

Nation:	Great Britain
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1993 Japanese Grand Prix
Last start:	2002 Japanese Grand Prix
Constructors
1993–1995  Jordan  • 1996–1999  Ferrari  • 2000–2002  Jaguar
statistics
World Cup balance:	Vice World Champion ( 1999 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 146 4th - 1
World Cup points :	191
Podiums :	26th
Leadership laps :	151 over 817.3 km

Edmund "Eddie" Irvine junior (born November 10, 1965 in Newtownards , Northern Ireland ) is a former British racing driver . Between 1993 and 2002 he started in the highest automotive motorsport class, Formula 1 , and became vice world champion there in 1999 .

Career

In 1983 Irvine's racing career began in the Irish Formula Ford . In 1985 Irvine drove in the British Formula Ford, in 1988 in the British Formula 3 and from 1989 until his Formula 1 entry then in the Formula 3000 in Europe and Japan.

Irvine made his F1 debut in October 1993 at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka for the Jordan team. In changeable and rainy weather, the Northern Irishman immediately showed his talent on the circuit known to him from his Formula 3000 days by lapping back against the leading Ayrton Senna and finishing in sixth place. Senna was so upset with Irvine's disrespect that he reportedly slapped the youngster after the race.

Irvine's courageous driving style, however, ensured him a permanent place in Eddie Jordan's team alongside Rubens Barrichello until the end of 1995 . Irvine had moderate success during this time, but was able to post a podium at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix . His eccentric team boss would have liked to keep Irvine busy, but lost his driver for the 1996 season in exchange for a transfer to Ferrari .

There he developed after initial difficulties and little glory moments, in which he beat Michael Schumacher in the qualification, to an overall reliable, so-called “number 2 pilot”, who mostly shielded team leader Schumacher from the rear. In his first Ferrari season, he often struggled with the bulky chassis designed by John Barnard and the frequent material defects. In the following years he knew how to present himself better and better, but he did not win. His mechanics reportedly often complained that Irvine hadn't been of much help in setting up his car. He could hardly say why he was quick in one corner but not in another.

After the victory in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in 1999, which was favored by many failures and thus surprising, and Michael Schumacher's serious accident in Silverstone , his hour seemed to have come. Irvine had to lead the Ferrari team on the driver's side and at first it looked like he would be able to do that too. During Schumacher's absence, he was able to post some good placements and won two more races, so that he could put world championship favorite Mika Häkkinen under pressure. In the penultimate race of the season in Malaysia, even returnees Schumacher himself helped him to his fourth victory. Although he started the final race, the Japanese Grand Prix, with a four-point lead , he was unable to counter Häkkinen. He only reached third place, while Häkkinen won, and was runner-up, two points behind. According to Irvine, the fault for this lay with the Ferrari team. He was not allowed to overtake Schumacher in Magny-Cours, which meant he was giving away World Cup points and, in addition, the Ferrari team stopped working technically for the 1999 season after Schumacher's injury and instead had already prepared for the 2000 season with Schumacher and Barrichello . After the season he moved to the newly founded Jaguar racing team.

Irvine in the Jaguar, 2002

Jaguar R3, the 2002 Irvines emergency vehicle

There he was under contract until 2002 and drove some notable races. For example, he made it onto the podium in third place at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2001 and the Italian Grand Prix in 2002 on less competitive vehicles. Irvine ended his career in the 2002 season and has not been a racing driver since.

Time after his career

In the spring of 2004, Irvine suddenly appeared in tabloid press reports when he was charged with speeding and driving a scooter in Hyde Park, London .

Furthermore, Irvine is now supposed to work as an event organizer or run a company that offers Formula 1 visits as an event trip. Furthermore, after his Formula 1 career, Irvine worked both as a commentator for English-language racing magazines and as a columnist for corresponding specialist magazines.

In 2008 he planned to set up a completely new Formula 1 team. He promised financial support from the Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko . However, the award for the vacant twelfth place among the Formula 1 teams did not go to his plan, but to David Richards ' project , Prodrive. This in turn withdrew from this option due to the disagreement about the clarification of the customer chassis issue within a new Concorde Agreement to be signed .

In December 2008, Irvine was involved in a bar fight in Milan with Gabriele Moratti, son of the then mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti , after which Irvine and Moratti denounced each other for assault. In January 2014, both opponents were sentenced to six months in prison by a court in Milan.

nationality

A citizen born in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, Irvine held a British passport throughout his racing career. But he drove for several years with a racing license from the Republic of Ireland because he saw himself as Irish. The FIA's International Sports Regulations state that a driver who takes part in an FIA World Championship should compete under the nationality of his passport and not under that of his license, as is the case with all FIA series without a World Championship title.

This situation caused some confusion on Irvine's podium visit after the 1996 Australian Grand Prix : the organizers of the race accidentally hoisted the Irish tricolor , causing the British tabloids to mock Irvine. His family also received threatening phone calls from Northern Irish extremists. Irvine then applied to raise the politically neutral flag with the shamrock at his future podium appearances , but the FIA ​​refused with reference to their regulations.

statistics

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

Grand Prix victories

1999 Australian Grand Prix ( Melbourne )  1999 Austrian Grand Prix ( Spielberg )

1999 German Grand Prix ( Hockenheim )  1999 Malaysian Grand Prix ( Sepang )

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Round	Points	WM-Pos.
1993	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 193	Hard 3.5 V10	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	22nd
1994	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 194	Hard 3.5 V10	12	-	-	-	-	-	6th	16.
1995	Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan 195	Peugeot 3.0 V10	17th	-	-	1	-	-	10	12.
1996	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari F310	Ferrari 3.0 V10	16	-	-	1	-	-	11	10.
1997	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F310B	Ferrari 3.0 V10	17th	-	1	4th	-	-	24	7th
1998	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F300	Ferrari 3.0 V10	16	-	3	5	-	-	47	4th
1999	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F399	Ferrari 3.0 V10	16	4th	2	3	-	1	74	2.
2000	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R1	Cosworth 3.0 V10	16	-	-	-	-	-	4th	13.
2001	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R2	Cosworth 3.0 V10	17th	-	-	1	-	-	6th	12.
2002	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R3	Cosworth 3.0 V10	17th	-	-	1	-	-	8th	9.
total				146	4th	6th	16	-	1	191

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1993
															6th	DNF
1994
	DNF	EX	EX	EX	6th	DNF	DNF	DNS	DNF	DNF	13	DNF	7th	4th	5	DNF
1995
	DNF	DNF	8th	5	DNF	3	9	DNF	9	13	DNF	DNF	10	6th	11	4th	DNF
1996
	3	7th	5	DNF	4th	7th	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	5	DNF
1997
	DNF	16	2	3	3	12	DNF	3	DNF	DNF	9	10	8th	DNF	DNF	3	5
1998
	4th	8th	3	3	DNF	3	3	2	3	4th	8th	DNF	DNF	2	4th	2
1999
	1	5	DNF	2	4th	3	6th	2	1	1	3	4th	6th	7th	1	3
2000
	DNF	DNF	7th	13	11	DNF	4th	13	13	INJ	10	8th	10	DNF	7th	8th	6th
2001
	11	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	7th	3	DNF	7th	DNF	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	5	DNF
2002
	4th	DNF	7th	DNF	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	6th	3	10	9

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1992	Toyota Team Tom's	Toyota 92C-V	Roland Ratzenberger	Eje Elgh	Rank 9
1993	Toyota Team Tom's	Toyota TS010	Toshio Suzuki	Masanori Sekiya	Rank 4
1994	SARD Company Ltd.	Toyota 94C-V	Mauro Martini	Jeff Krosnoff	Rank 2 and class win

literature

• with Jane Nottage: Life in the fast Lane. The inside story of the Ferrari Years. Ebury Press, London 1999, ISBN 0-09-18746-02 .

Web links

Commons : Eddie Irvine  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Eddie Irvine in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sven Haidinger: Ex-Formula 1 driver Irvine sentenced to prison. Motorsport-Total.com, January 9, 2014, accessed January 10, 2014 . 
2. ↑ International Sports Act of the FIA (pages 13-14, paragraph 112)