Eddie Irvine

British racecar driver

Eddie Irvine's 1999 title chase

Eddie Irvine spent four seasons at Ferrari, won four races in 1999 and finished two points short of the championship.

Eddie Irvine was born in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, on 10 November 1965, and raced under the British flag. He started in Formula Ford in 1983, won national Formula Ford titles with Van Diemen in 1987, and then worked his way through Formula Three and Formula 3000.

Jordan gave him his Formula 1 debut at the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix, where he scored points on his first start. He became a full time Jordan driver in 1994 and took his first podium in 1995, finishing third in Canada. That result helped bring a move to Ferrari for 1996, as teammate to Michael Schumacher.

Irvine's results grew steadily at Ferrari. He scored five podiums in 1997 and eight in 1998, when he was fourth in the championship, though he had to wait for a win. It finally came at the opening race of 1999 in Australia. After Schumacher was injured at the British Grand Prix that July, Irvine won in Austria and Germany, then took the Malaysian Grand Prix and went to the final round with a chance at the title. He finished runner up to Mika Häkkinen by two points.

From 2000 he drove for Jaguar Racing, scoring the team's first podium at Monaco in 2001 and another podium in 2002 before retiring at the end of that season. His Formula 1 record shows 145 starts, 4 wins, 1 fastest lap and 26 podiums.

0 world titles, 4 wins, 0 pole positions, 145 starts.

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