Eddie Irvine is one of those individuals that people either love or hate. The Ulsterman with the cheeky smile and out spoken personality, is definitely one of Formula One's true characters.
Irvine made his debut for Jordan towards the end of the 1993 season and notched up his first points in his first race at Suzuka after qualifying 8th and finishing sixth. It also led to accusations of poor driving by Ayrton Senna and Irvine quickly established a somewhat undeserved reputation as a bit of a loose cannon.
After some solid performances at Jordan including a third place in Canada in 1995, Ferrari snapped him up to drive alongside Michael Schumacher. Despite being dogged by an unreliable car for much of his first season, he has since then steadily turned in improved performances.
Although Ferrari deny that Irvine was employed as a number two driver, there's no doubting that at Maranello, the German was the star. However, in 1999, Irvine finally came into his own.
First off, there was the win in Melbourne, which saw the Ulsterman leading the world championship. Then, at Silverstone his team-mate (and greatest rival) Michael Schumacher was taken out of the championship equation in a first lap accident that resulted in the German breaking his leg.
Suddenly, Irvine found himself in the role of number one driver for Ferrari. On the whole, he rose to the occasion, taking the title fight all the way to Suzuka, but it was not to be.
For 2000, Eddie moves to Jaguar, who appear to be pulling out all the stops in their efforts to dominate the sport. His tendency to 'shoot from the lip' has both infuriated and endeared. However, without the restrictions that were imposed on him at Ferrari, this will be Irvine's chance to show what he's really