Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher remain up to date one of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 line-ups which fans loved the most. They both joined the Maranello team at the start of the 1996 Formula 1 season, in a very difficult period for Ferrari, which at that time was not able to challenge Benetton-Renault or Williams-Renault for several championships.
While Michael Schumacher was brought in as the main driver to help Ferrari regain its past glory, Eddie Irvine was seen as a strong second driver and was appreciated by the Tifosi from the start. In a recent interview, the former racing driver from Northern Ireland described the feeling of joy, but also the difficulties of working alongside the best Formula 1 driver in history: “Being Schumacher’s teammate was amazing in one way because I got to work with who I still believe is the greatest driver of all time. He dominated his team-mates massively.” – Eddie Irvine admitted – “Of course, he started to get older and wasn’t quite as quick but in the early days it was amazing to watch a guy operate at such a high level. So from that point of view it was an honour. Obviously, you never look particularly good when you’re up against someone like Michael Schumacher. But I was lucky in a way because by the time I got there, Schumacher was very much seen as special. The guys that Schumacher came against much earlier in his career got dumped because people didn’t realise how good Michael was at that stage.” – Eddie added, in an interview with Betway.
During his four Formula 1 seasons alongside Scuderia Ferrari, Eddie Irvine scored 22 podium finishes and finished fourth overall in the Drivers standings at the end of the 1999 season. Up to date, he is still the last Formula 1 driver from the United Kingdom to have raced for the Maranello team.
In his last year with Ferrari, Eddie Irvine became the main driver and raced alogside Mika Salo for six Grands Prix, after Michael Schumacher suffered a heavy crash at the Silverstone Circuit due to a brake failure, breaking his leg. It was the Northern Ireland driver’s only chance to fight for the Formula 1 world championship, which he eventually lost to Mika Häkkinen by just a few points, but Ferrari fans still remember the 1999 European Grand Prix, when Eddie was forced to stay in the pits for almost a minute during his tyre change, as the mechanics were not ready for his pit stop and only had three tyres ready for him when he came in. In hindsight, without that unfortunate moment, Irvine would have won the title. However, his strong results that season were enough to help Scuderia Ferrari win the Constructors’ Championship after 16 years.
Eddie recalls the pressure of fighting for a Formula 1 title:
“The pressures of Formula 1 are immense. You’ve got 500 or 600 people working at the factory, and you’re the guy who’s responsible for getting the results at the end. So you have all that pressure on you, plus you want to do a good job because, if you’re in the sport, you take it very seriously. You want to perform at your best. Sometimes a lot of it is out of your control, but you’ve got to give 100 per cent all the time” – he explained – “It was very difficult in ’99 because it was my one chance at the World Championship and we got close, but we didn’t quite pull it off. The fact it was my one shot was an added pressure – it wasn’t like I was in a Williams for three years and had three years to win the championship. It was a lot of pressure, but that’s what we’re paid for.” – the former Ferrari driver admitted.
When asked about his favourite teammate during his Formula One career, Eddie Irvine also points to his time in Ferrari alongside the German driver: “I would have to say Michael because we had a very good working relationship. I never had an issue with him at all. He performed the best he could every weekend, I performed the best I could every weekend. If I had to do something for the team, I had to do something for the team, and that was it. It was very simple.” – he added.
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