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. He would sign with Paul Stewart racing for the 1990 season, achieving respectable results, but not scoring any points, until he switched to Italian outfit FIRST Racing for the final round at Dijon, where he would finally score with a 4th place finish.

While he signed with FIRST, Irvine managed to convince Mugen-Honda to continue powering the Italian outfit, after the japanese engine manufacturer threatened to pull the plug on them after they ditched Irvine's predecessor Masanori Sekiya. In exchange, Irvine pledged allegiance to Mugen, which led him to the land of the rising sun, where he had a successful 3-year stint in the all Japan F3000 Championship, driving for Mugen team Cerumo.

Formula One

1993: Jordan

News of Irvine's exploits in Japan reached Eddie Jordan's ears. After witnessing Irvine's lights-to-flag win at Fuji Speedway in the penultimate round of the 1992 All-Japan F3000 season, the Irish team owner offered the Ulsterman to be his number two driver for the 1993 Formula One season alongside fellow Ulsterman Martin Donnelly. Irvine only wanted a part-time deal, though, as he wanted to win the All-Japan F3000 with Cerumo after coming close in the previous years. As such, Jordan then hired Italian veteran Teo Fabi to replace Irvine at rounds clashing with his Japanese duties. Faith would ultimately be repaid after just one race as Irvine came home in sixth place to score points on his Formula One debut.

With the All Japan F3000 title in his pockets, Irvine could finally focus on F1 full time, and he would stay with Jordan for 1994.

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.

Results

International Formula 3000

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1989	Middlebridge Racing	Reynard 89D	Mugen-Honda MF308	SIL	IMO	PAU	JER	ASS	PER	BHA	BIR	SPA 2	LEM Ret	DIJ 3	11th	10