Steering Column

EDDIE IRVINE FOR 1999 WORLD CHAMPION?

Eddie Irvine is burning every bridge he crosses. Especially Italian bridges. He is living by the rule: "The only good friend is a new friend." Unfortunately for Irvine, the F1 paddock has a finite number of people. It isn't hard to see Irvine talking his way out of F1. Irvine is taking a huge gamble. A gamble which will either see his backers loving him or hating him. Will the Ferrari team rally around Irvine for a championship drive? Can they find the mettle to raise McLaren's stake, to crawl on top? Irvine is betting his entire existence on it.

Irvine now sits only eight points behind Mika Hakkinen in the drivers championship. Yet, he and Ferrari are one step behind the McLaren. If the McLaren and it's drivers can get to the end of a race in one piece, chances are, it wins, leaving the rest of the field a time-zone behind. McLaren numero uno, Mika Hakkinen, has a great confidence and comfort zone in the McLaren-Mercedes. If it is dry, and he doesn't make any mistakes, he is almost always the fastest driver. He has a championship to back it up. Yet, it isn't always dry, and he does make mistakes. He is human.

As we enter the new millennium, McLaren-Mercedes has successfully wrestled the Williams team off the top wrung of the ladder. Williams ceded the title in 1997, when Renault packed it in, leaving only a shell, in the form of the Supertec. As demonstrated, year-old Renault engines don't make nearly the impression a brand new one will. Renault flinched, and that was all Mercedes needed. Sleep doesn't exist in F1. Fall asleep, fall behind. This year, though, the mighty McLaren has looked as if it was made from crete paper.

Could 1999 be a magical year of destiny? Could there be a better story than Eddie Irvine winning the drivers championship, in Michael Schumacher's absence? Think Irvine is cocksure now? What if he had a championship on his back? Could he handle the success? They say that fame and fortune changes a person. Irvine already has the fame and fortune. Racing's ultimate glory, the F1 driver's championship, is the only prize to elude Irvine. Perhaps Irvine's destiny will float out to sea, with the championship still docked at bay.

One thing is certain: Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher will NOT be teammates next year. Irvine was quoted, saying, "When Michael is back, he will have to drive for me, as I have have for him for the past three years, to help him win the championship. It's his turn." I wonder how Schumey reacts to these comments? Irvine also stated, "I can't see myself staying with Ferrari, because when Michael comes back, he'll certainly be the team's number one. That's why the managers know I won't stay too long with Ferrari, because I don't want to remain as a number two for the rest of my career."

How must Michael feel, reading Eddie's quote, "People will just be more relaxed because Michael can be very demanding to work for. There is a certain pressure which people can take, but after that, it is maybe too much. We need to knuckle down now and make fewer mistakes and that might happen because Michael is not there, so there is less pressure on the guys." There is only one flaw in Irvine's theory: Schumacher's lengendary rapport with the people that work for him. Both at Bennetton and Ferrari. Certainly, the people that work with Schumacher are under considerable pressure to produce. With that pressure, however, comes lofty rewards. If the team does it's job, then Schumacher can work his magic, elevating everyone involved. So, it's not difficult to figure which driver gets the nod, when the stakes get high.

Let's make a theoretical assumption: Irvine wins the 1999 drivers championship. If this were to occur, Ferrari would have a dilemma: after paying Schumacher between twenty to thirty million dollars a year for the last four years, without a championship, Irvine wins it as soon as Schumacher goes out. What does that say? It is possible, in this scenario, for Schumacher to be the one to leave the team? Perhaps McLaren, more importantly, Mercedes would flog themselves for a chance of having Schumacher drive for them. Certainly, Schumacher would have to take a large pay cut. But wouldn't it be worth it for both sides?

In Christopher Hilton's book, AYRTON SENNA: AS TIME GOES BY, Ron Dennis describes the new McLaren policy, following Senna's 1993 departure, "We made a policy change and decided to develop younger drivers. So our attitude was, let's invest in the company, push to improve the resources within the organization, then pick from several drivers and still win races." That is fine and diddley, but who could turn down the services of Schumacher? Imagine the enormous advantage Schumacher would have, driving the best car.

Whatever you think of Eddie Irvine, you must admire, for better or worse, his candor, when speaking with the media. Honest to a default, what you see, is what you get. His mouth will never win him any friends inside F1, only lose them. As far as fans are concerned, though, Irvine is the only thing that resembles a personality. Nobody wants to hear what we're thinking. We've got Eddie for that. Irvine never thinks before he talks, and the public is enriched for it. We only WISH we could speak like this in our work environment.

The second half of the 1999 season has all the elements of a historical finish. Will they play out? Can Ferrari and Eddie Irvine throw McLaren for a loop? Can Ferrari finally come up with the winning car? Irvine has given some spectacular drives this year.... can he continue to post these types of finishes? Is Mika Hakkinen as vulnerable as he seems? Or is it the McLaren-Mercedes? It will have been twenty years, this year, since a Ferrari has won the drivers championship. What makes Eddie Irvine think he can do what Schumacher, Prost, Mansell or Berger couldn't? Has his time come? It should make F1, in the last half, of the last year, of the twentieth century, something to cherish. I hope.

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