There was double cause for Irish celebration in Australia yesterday as Eddie Irvine claimed his first grand prix win and Jordan's Heinz Harald Frentzen took second place on the podium at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit.
The race was characterised by a litany of mechanical failures and retirements, the most crucial being the McLarens of world champion Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.
The duo had taken a commanding lead ahead of Irvine when Coulthard suddenly retired on lap 15, leaving Irvine in second place, 18 seconds behind Hakkinen.
The Ulster-man closed the gap on the Finn when the safety car was called out after Canadian Jacques Villeneuve crashed. As the race resumed, Hakkinen slowed with throttle problems and Irvine blasted into a lead he never relinquished.
It was the perfect end to a nightmare weekend for Ferrari, who had arrived at the circuit with expectations for the season at an all-time high. Throughout Friday and Saturday, the team's new F399 car had suffered badly from a lack of power and had been made to look pedestrian.
But despite the lack of power, in Irvine's hands yesterday the pedestrian rose to Olympian heights.
Irvine's first grand prix victory comes at the 82nd attempt and in his 50th race for Ferrari. It was a victory, he said, made all the sweeter for the long wait. "It's fantastic to do it with Ferrari," he said, "especially because it's come after such a long time. It's fantastic for all the people who helped me along the way, they know who they are. There's so many we'd be here for hours - I needed a lot of help."
Irvine thanked his race engineers for their efforts in preparing the car and paid a light-hearted compliment to his father, Edmund, who was not at the race. "I came here with very little testing done," he said, "and my engineer, Luca, and I went our own way and did what we wanted with the car. It was great to drive and I had very few problems. The balance is good. I'd also like to thank my father for not coming to this race, as he never comes to any of my first victories!"
The President, Mrs McAleese, sent her congratulations to Irvine for his "wonderful victory".
Frentzen's second place gives Jordan their best start to a championship season, and the German, who was starting his first race back for Jordan since racing for the team in F3000 in 1991, said finishing on the podium was a great start. "I'm very pleased to get the six points at the beginning of the season and I'm very happy for myself and for the team. The people at Jordan have done a great job," he said.
Frentzen's boss, Eddie Jordan, was likewise delighted with the win: "It's very satisfying to be second here in the race and in the constructors' championship. Heinz Harald did a remarkable job. He seems to enjoy the workings of our team and I believe we have a real champion here."
Jordan could have more room for satisfaction, if not outright smugness, when he looked at the final race classification to find that, of the eight finishers, seven - Irvine, Frentzen, the Schumacher brothers, Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella and Pedro de la Rosa - had been employed by the team at some time in the past.
Top Six
1 E Irvine (NIre) Ferrari 1 hr 35 min 01.659 sec. 2 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Jordan at 1.026 sec. 3 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams at 7.012. 4 G Fisichella (Ita) Benetton at 33.418. 5 R Barrichello (Bra) Stewart at 54.697. 6 P de la Rosa (Spa) Arrows at 1:24.316.
