Eddie Irvine
Northern Irish · 1993–2002
Photo: Franmarjos · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · cropped
Irvine in numbers
191 official points · best championship finish: 2nd in 1999
0Drivers’ titles
none
1Constructors’ titles
1999
55th of 789 all time
2.8% of races
17.9% of races
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
3.1% of races with Jordan
0Drivers’ titles
none
1Constructors’ titles
1999
of 1 in the career
6.2% of races with Ferrari
35.4% of races with Ferrari
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
4% of races with Jaguar
Eddie Irvine came within two points of being world champion without ever taking a pole position. Both things are true, and together they tell his career better than any summary: 147 Grands Prix, four wins, twenty-six podiums and zero front-row-of-one starts in ten seasons.
He entered Formula 1 with a calling card hard to beat: he scored in his first race and that same evening took a punch from Ayrton Senna for not letting him past while being lapped. He signed for Ferrari in 1996 as Michael Schumacher's declared number two and spent four years there, winning when it was his turn and stepping aside when required.
1999 changed everything. Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone and Ferrari lost its driver midway through the season, so the second became the first. Irvine won four races, arrived at the Suzuka finale leading the championship and lost it by two points to Mika Häkkinen. He left for Jaguar the following year, never reached the podium again and retired in 2002.
Ver en españolRating by season
- First season
- 70 1993
- Peak
- 80 1999
- 2002
- 76 Jaguar
10 seasons in the database, from 1993 to 2002. Our own rating, from 50 to 99.
Teams
Tags
Best year
1999
What would Eddie Irvine have achieved with a different car or in a different era?
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His team-mates
6 team-mates across 10 seasons. When both finished the race, Irvine was ahead in 20 of 56; on the grid he started ahead in 60 of 147.
| Year | Team-mate | In the race | On the grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Rubens BarrichelloJordan · 2 races | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| 1994 | Rubens BarrichelloJordan · 13 races | 1-1 | 5-8 |
| 1995 | Rubens BarrichelloJordan · 17 races | 2-3 | 12-5 |
| 1996 | Michael SchumacherFerrari · 16 races | 0-3 | 1-15 |
| 1997 | Michael SchumacherFerrari · 17 races | 0-8 | 1-16 |
| 1998 | Michael SchumacherFerrari · 16 races | 1-10 | 1-15 |
| 1999 | Michael SchumacherFerrari · 10 races | 2-5 | 1-9 |
| 1999 | Mika SaloFerrari · 6 races | 4-1 | 4-2 |
| 2000 | Johnny HerbertJaguar · 16 races | 4-3 | 13-3 |
| 2001 | Pedro de la RosaJaguar · 13 races | 3-0 | 7-6 |
| 2001 | Luciano BurtiJaguar · 4 races | 0-1 | 4-0 |
| 2002 | Pedro de la RosaJaguar · 17 races | 3-0 | 10-7 |
The first number is always Irvine's. A team-mate is whoever started the same race for the same team. "In the race" only counts races both finished, because a retirement says nothing about who was quicker. "On the grid" is the starting position, with penalties already applied.
Compare Irvine with another driver
Titles, wins, poles and podiums side by side, against any of the 789 drivers in history.
Keep reading
Where Eddie Irvine comes up in what we have measured, with our own numbers.
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