Eddie Irvine

Edmund Irvine Jr. (born 10th November, 1965 in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland) is a British former Formula One driver.

Early Career

Irvine first came into international prominence in 1989, when he took a second place at Spa-Francorchamps on his International Formula 3000 debut

Formula One

1998: Sauber

Irvine missed out on a drive for the 1998 season, and took some time out in the early season. However, his time came at the British Grand Prix when it was all change at Sauber - which saw Irvine and Tom Douglas replace Jean Alesi and Daniel Moreno. Irvine would only take a single point in his half-campaign, but he would take a fastest lap amongst the deluge at the Belgian Grand Prix.

1999: Minardi

Irvine found full-time employment again in 1999, switching to the Fondmetal Minardi team alongside Spaniard Marc Gené. Despite the underwhelming performance of the Minardi, Irvine impressed many with strong and mature drives all season and was perhaps unlucky to take only a single point for his troubles.

2000-2001: Jaguar

Despite only two points finishes in the previous two years, Irvine found himself in high demand - eventually signing a two year deal with Jaguar.

Jaguar's first point would come from Irvine at the Brazilian Grand Prix after the exclusion of McLaren's Mika Häkkinen. Irvine would follow this points score up four races later with Jaguar's first podium; a third place at the European Grand Prix. However, this would be the last cause for celebration at Jaguar in 2000 - as Irvine was unable to score any more points. Irvine would miss the Austrian Grand Prix due to a bout of appendicitis and was replaced by Luciano Burti.

Irvine's second season would be another where he'd be the solitary points scorer, with a best result of fourth place in Spain. Frustration with the team hierarchy caused Irvine to call it a day and he'd leave the team at the end of the season.

Later career

Irvine decided to take a sabbatical at the end of the 2001 season, which ended up being his retirement from active motorsport. Irvine became involved in property investment and now has a multi-million dollar portfolio which takes most of his time now.