Few people will remember Eddie Iquine. And the Irishman, by the way, almost became the champion in 1999 at the wheel of Ferrari under the number "4".
Irvine made his debut in Formula 1 at the end of 1993 and distinguished himself that he overtook the leader of the Race of Arston Senna, lagging behind him for a circle, for which a personal meeting with a three-time champion, which took place on elevated colors. The next two seasons of Eddie spent in Jordan, but was always in the shadow of Rubens Barrichello.
In 1996, Michael Schumacher from Benetton moved to Ferrari, and Barrichello was offered to become his partner. At that time, Brazilians refused, but Irvine, who was next in the queue of applicants, agreed. Three seasons of Irishman was a faithful shells of Schumacher, playing in the interests of the team. During this time, he rose 14 times to the podium, but did not win any race.
The 1999 season began with an unexpected victory of Iquine. True, Schumacher and both McLaren pilots, which were leading in the race. Then everything fell into place: Michael won a couple of races and led the struggle for the title with Mick Hakkinen, and Irishman departed to the background. The situation has changed dramatically at the eighth stage in the UK, where Schumacher flew off the track and got fractures of the legs. Ferrari did not have anything, how to bet on Eddie.
Hakkinen, who was leading in the championship, in the second half of the season fell into a black stripe: the car will refuse, then the team's partner will choose from the track, it will be wrong. And Irvine and Ferrari skillfully used the failures of rivals and stably recruited glasses. Eddie won in Austria and Germany. By the way, in Hokkenheim, he felt all the charm of the status of the first pilot, when he actually presented the victory of Mika Salo, designed to replace the injured Schumacher.
Eddie Irvain, Ferrari F399, Grand Prix of Australia
Before the penultimate stage in Malaysia, Schumacher returned, who perfectly played the role of the second pilot - the next victory of Irvaine! True, the scuder pilots who made a double, disqualified for a violation of the technical regulations, the winner of the race was announced by Hakkinen, who automatically became the champion. However, Ross Brown, at that time, the technical director of the Italian team, managed to prove that the stewards of the Grand Prix of Malaysia had the lineup curves - the victory was returned to Ferrari. The fate of the title was to decide in Japan, where Irvine was driving the championship leader with an advantage of 4 points.
The entire racing weekend in Japan, Irvine looked no matter and even managed to break the car in practice. In the race he started the fifth, but quite quickly went to the third position. However, this was not enough, because the race was leading Hacquinen. Schumacher walked close to the McLaren pilot, but did not dare to attack. Or did not want?
The second and third places guaranteed Ferrari victory in the constructors Cup. In the personal credit, Irvine lost to Hakkinen only two points. After such a result, Eddie no longer wanted to play the second role in Schumacher and accepted an invitation to become the first pilot of the new Jaguar team. For three seasons, the Irishman rose twice to the podium, and after completing the career in Formula 1, it was engaged in real estate, earned considerable capital and became among the richest people of Northern Ireland.
Results of the season for Eddie Irvaine: 16 starts, 9 podiums, 4 victories, the best starting position - 2nd, 1 Best Circle, 74 points, 2nd place in the championship.
