The warm embrace of Eddie Irvine by race winner Michael Schumacher after their stunning 1-2 victory at the French Grand Prix was due recognition of the Ulsterman's contribution to pulling the German ace to within half a dozen points of Mika Hakkinen at the half-way point in the 1998 World Drivers' championship.
Irvine was the man of the meeting - starting brilliantly and finishing on just as high a note by beating off a late race challenge from Ferrari's public enemy number one - Championship leader Mika Hakkinen.
Jordan's best qualifying of the year - Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill sixth and seventh on the grid respectively - yielded nothing, with Hill retiring with hydraulic trouble while Schumacher went out of contention after a collision with Alex Wurz. The resultant pit stop, for steering damage repair, put the German back on the track but three laps adrift.
Right from the start Irvine was doing the company job of getting in the way of the McLarens so Michael Schumacher could keep his World title aspirations alive. Irvine started from fourth on the grid and as Schumacher sprinted into the lead, Irvine chopped across third place starter David Coulthard. "I had good momentum into the Grande Courbe and I was on the right side of the track. I got around the outside of Hakkinen, into second place, really without too much trouble," Irvine admitted.
Irvine held that second place while Schumacher sped away from the pack at a rate of a second a lap.
"I wasn't holding anyone up. I was running at a good pace. It's up to them to get through," Irvine added. After two pit stops Hakkinen came out fractionally behind Irvine and pressed the Ulsterman all the way to a frantic last-corner dash but never looked like getting the better of the Ferrari number two.
"I was in a nice rhythm. Because I stopped 10 laps before him he had more grip, but as I say, it's up to him to get through.
"I enjoyed the race" said Irvine of only his second runner-up finish. "We have a good team spirit and over the last two months everyone - especially Goodyear and our engineers at Maranello - have worked very hard. We are now very close to the McLarens," he added.
Allowing Schumacher to go clear, and reducing Hakkinen's points to four could make Irvine's drive the crucial one of the season in the chase for the title. It will certainly greatly improve his chances of a lucrative fourth year at Ferrari as his contract negotiations continue this week. The Benson & Hedges logo on the Jordan cars were replaced by "Buzzin' Hornets" stickers to comply with French anti-tobacco legislation but there was precious little buzz in the Jordan garage after their best shot at a points scoring finish this season evaporated into nothing.
"After our best qualifying of the season it was a real shame to see Damon having a hydraulic problem and Ralf have the accident," said Eddie Jordan. Eddie Jordan heads back to Silverstone for the first running of the heavily revised, B version of the 198 which the team hope will bring a change of fortune in the second half of the season which starts at the British Grand Prix in a fortnight's time.
French Grand Prix (at Magny Cours, France) 1 M Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari one hour 34 minutes 45.026 seconds (Average speed 190.963kph). 2 E Irvine (Ireland) Ferrari 19.575 seconds behind. 3 M Hakkinen (Finland) McLaren 19.747. 4 J Villeneuve (Canada) Williams 66.965. 5 A Wurz (Austria) Benetton 1 lap behind. 6 D Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 1 lap. 7 J Alesi (France) Sauber 1 lap. 8 Johnny J Herbert (Britain) Sauber 1 lap. 9 G Fisichella (Italy) Benetton 1 lap. 10. R Barrichello (Brazil) Stewart 2 laps. 11 O Panis (France) Prost 2 laps. 12 J Verstappen (Netherlands) Stewart 2 laps. 13 M Salo (Finland) Arrows 2 laps. 14 P Diniz (Brazil) Arrows 2 laps. 15 H Frentzen (Germany) Williams 3 laps. 16 R Schumacher (Germany) Jordan 3 laps. Did not finish/not classified: 17 S Nakano (Japan) Minardi 65 laps completed. 18 T Takagi (Japan) Tyrrell 60. 19. J Trulli (Italy) Prost 55. 20 E Tuero (Argentina) Minardi 41. 21 D Hill (Br itain) Jordan 19. 22 R Rosset (Brazil) Tyrrell 16.[Q L]
Fastest lap: Coulthard 1:17.523 (197.360kph)
