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| Birth Name(s) : Eddie Irvine |
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Full Eddie Irvine Biography
Edmund "Eddie" Irvine, Jr. (b. 10 November 1965, Newtownards) is a former Formula One racing driver from Northern Ireland.
He grew up in Conlig, County Down. Irvine was influenced by his parents, who are also involved in motor racing. His father, Edmund Sr., and his sister, Sonia (now a physiotherapist), worked with him in his career. As of 2003, he had houses in Milan, Miami and Dublin Bay.
His professional racing career began in 1983 and he progressed to Formula Three racing in 1988, before moving on to Formula 3000 in 1989. He got his break in the top of the Formula racing series after he started racing for Jordan in the Formula 3000 series in 1990, and was subsequently picked up by the Jordan Formula One team in 1993. His reputation steadily increased in Formula One, eventually leading Ferrari to sign him to partner Michael Schumacher in 1996.
In the early stages of his F1 career, Irvine was known as a fierce competitor. Even when he had a weaker car with which he only qualified for the rear of the grid, he had a tendency to "try to win a race at the start", often causing himself and others to exit a race in an untimely and untidy fashion.
He was also noted for his personality, perhaps best described as anti-authoritarian. He finished 6th and secured a point on his debut Formula One race with Jordan in 1993 at Suzuka. This race set the theme of controversy for Irvine that would follow him for the next couple of years. Seeing Ayrton Senna coming up behind him in his rear-view mirror, Irvine allowed him to pass.
However, when Senna seemingly did not bother to lap Damon Hill who Irvine was racing against at the time, he felt he was being held up and, amazingly for a rookie against an all-time great, unlapped himself and immediately overtook Hill. Incensed, Senna walked into the Jordan motorhome after the race finished and punched Irvine in the face. Irvine spoke about this when asked about his most memorable moment:“I assume you’re talking about racing so I’ll keep it clean then! I think going around the outside of three guys at the first corner and up to fifth in my first grand prix for Jordan. I did have a chuckle when I unlapped Ayrton Senna in that race and was laughing my head off in the car.”—Eddie Irvine
Irvine continued with Jordan until 1995, where he was well matched with his younger, though more experienced team-mate, Rubens Barrichello. His lack of reliability as well as a tendency to get involved in accidents in 1994 meant that the final championship standings did not mirror his speed. Irvine recorded his first podium finish in F1 with a third place (behind Barrichello in 2nd) at the memorable 1995 Canadian Grand Prix.
Irvine's affinity for apparently reckless driving began to dissipate when he moved to the Ferrari team. F1 sports commentators even changed his nickname from "Irv the swerve" to "Steady Eddie" and "Fast Eddie".
As the Formula One world became more technical and the driver personalities less distinctive, his non-conformist approach was generally appreciated.
1999 saw Irvine's career reach a peak as, through a combination of circumstance and the culmination of his much improved and matured style and performance during his years at Ferrari, he found himself battling for the World Championship following Michael Schumacher's accident in the British Grand Prix.
Irvine won the season's opening grand prix in Australia, in a race with significant attrition. With consistent points finishes and subsequent good form he was relatively well placed to take up the fight as the team's lead driver alongside Schumacher's replacement, Mika Salo. A controversial victory handed to him by Salo, out of sight of TV cameras, in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim followed, although Irvine looked set to pass Salo with or without his help. Following the race, Irvine handed his victory trophy over to Salo as a gesture to show his gratitude.
Notwithstanding his success in 1999, Irvine had become increasingly frustrated with a Ferrari team that had a team orders policy, meaning that he had to consistently take a backseat. He moved to Jaguar in 2000 to help establish the Jaguar Racing team where he finally became the lead driver.
Following the collapse of talks with Minardi in 2005, Irvine is now considering setting up his own Formula One team from scratch. Irvine was also linked to a 2005/2006 takeover of Jordan, reportedly funded by Russian Routsam Tariko.
He is also the owner of Eddie Irvine Sports, a snooker, pool, kart racing, paintballing and football facility in Bangor, close to his native Conlig.
In autumn 2006 he launched a new television programme on the Sky One channel, with two teams of celebrity racing drivers competing against each other. David Coulthard was captain and coach of the girls team, and Irvine of the boys. Ultimately, despite some impressive performances by both teams, Irvine's team won by some margin. Also in 2006 Irvine had a brief fling with actress and model Pamela Anderson, who broke off the romance claiming that "Eddie was just too sweet for me." |
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