page_title: Eddie Irvine
section_title: 1999
hierarchical_section_title: Eddie Irvine / Formula One career / Ferrari (1996–1999) / 1999
caption_attribution_description: Eddie Irvine driving for Scuderia Ferrari at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Edmund Irvine Jr. is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002, and finished runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers' Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari.
  He began his career at the age of seventeen when he entered the Formula Ford Championship, achieving early success, before progressing to the Formula Three and Formula 3000 Championships. He made his Formula One debut in 1993 with Jordan Grand Prix, where he achieved early notoriety for his involvement in incidents on and off the track. He scored his first podium in 1995 with Jordan, before moving to Ferrari in 1996. His most successful season was in 1999 when he took four victories and challenged McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen for the World Championship. He moved to Jaguar Racing in 2000, scoring the team's first podium in 2001 and his final podium in 2002. Irvine retired from competitive motorsport at the end of the 2002 season.
  Since retiring, Irvine became a media personality in Great Britain. He was linked with the takeover of the Jordan and Minardi Formula One teams in 2005, but talks came to nothing.
context_section_description: For 1999, Irvine was confident heading into the season, saying: "After last year's results where I got my best ever championship finish with 4th place overall, now, for this year, I want to do even better". His season got off to a good start: after 81 Grand Prix, Irvine scored his maiden Formula One victory at the season opening round in Australia, giving him the lead of the World Drivers' Championship for the first time. In the following race in Brazil an unscheduled pitstop, due to blocked radiators, cost Irvine a podium finish, and he ultimately finished fifth. Three weeks later in the San Marino Grand Prix, Irvine would miss out on another podium finish, after his car suffered an engine failure on lap 47 (of 62) while in a comfortable third place, losing him the lead of the Drivers' Championship to teammate Schumacher. Irvine finished second at Monaco, behind Schumacher, giving Ferrari its first one-two finish of the season, and first ever in the Principality. At the next round in Canada, Irvine set fastest lap (his career one and only) and survived a collision with McLaren driver David Coulthard on the way to a third-place finish.
  On the first lap of the British Grand Prix, which Irvine finished in second place, Schumacher broke his right leg in a crash at the high-speed Stowe Corner when his car's rear brakes failed. Irvine assumed the role of team leader and was partnered by Finnish driver Mika Salo for the next six races. Irvine won the next race in Austria and was gifted the win by Mika Salo a week later in Germany, helping him to regain the lead of the Drivers' Championship. A further podium finish in Hungary followed, where he struggled with oversteer. In September it was announced that Irvine would move to the Jaguar team, which had purchased Stewart Grand Prix in June, and would be partnered by Johnny Herbert. Irvine finished out of the points in seventh place at the European Grand Prix after enduring an embarrassing 48-second pitstop while his mechanics searched for a missing tyre as they only had three ready for him when he came in.
  Schumacher returned from injury at the penultimate race of the season, in Malaysia, and in a remarkable display, helped Irvine to win his fourth race of the season and head another Ferrari one-two, ahead of Häkkinen. Both Ferraris were later disqualified as it was discovered their car's bargeboards did not comply with Formula One's technical regulations. Ferrari appealed to the FIA, and it was held five days after the race, on 22 October. The following day, it was announced that the Court of Appeal overturned the decision, ensuring a Championship showdown at Suzuka. At the final race of the season in Japan, Irvine struggled in qualifying and crashed heavily, managing only fifth place; in the race he finished third, over a minute and a half behind Schumacher in second, and race winner Häkkinen. Irvine lost the Drivers' Championship to Häkkinen by just 2 points, but Irvine's efforts during the season helped Ferrari to clinch their first World Constructors' Championship in 16 years.
  Irvine was awarded the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy, an annual award given to the most successful British or Commonwealth driver in Formula One over the course of one season. He was also named Autosport's British Competition Driver of the Year for 1999.
caption: Irvine driving for Ferrari at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix
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