Eddie Irvine's first grand prix win in Melbourne on Sunday may be the shape of things to come for the Irish driver if history continues to repeat itself. Over the past decade every driver, but one, to win the first grand prix of the season has gone on to win the title.

The list of luminaries includes Ayrton Senna, who won in successive years, 1990 and 1991, Michael Schumacher who again won consecutively in 1994 and 1995 as well as Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen.

The only one to break the winning streak is David Coulthard who won in Melbourne in 1997 but failed to take the title, with Jacques Villeneuve going on to take that year's title.

On Sunday Irvine jokingly said all he required a was a slice of luck and "for Michael Schumacher not to finish".

However, the jest may prove prophetic, at least in the short term. Irvine said he was "delighted with the balance" of Ferrari and that all weekend he had told the team the car felt good.

Schumacher by contrast had an awful weekend, appearing unable to cope with the twitchy nature of the Ferrari F399 and also being plagued with technical difficulties and racing misfortune when his car blew a tyre after he had fought back to fourth place following a starting grid stall which moved him to the back of the field.

Meanwhile, at McLaren, Coulthard, who retired on Sunday with hydraulic problems while in a comfortable second place, has forecast that the team will be back to its best at the next race at Interlagos in Brazil.

"I think the championship will be the same as last year," said the Scot.

"We should be strong again in Brazil, but the others will get closer as the season goes on."

Sunday's race produced a number of surprises not least of which was the troubled Arrows team claiming its first point of the season in the first race back, with Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa taking sixth place.

Last year the team run by Tom Walkinshaw finished in seventh place with seven points and a best placing of fourth place for Mika Salo in Monaco.

Sunday's result, in which de la Rosa scored in his debut race and which was also finished by Toranosuke Takagi in seventh, will give a new impetus to the team, whose future was in doubt until its financial stability was secured with an investment by the Nigerian Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim and the lucrative sponsorship deals brought by the two drivers.